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Bppletons’ 
Uown anD Countcp 
XlbracB 

No. 304 


THE DEVASTATORS 


NOVELS BY ADA CAMBRIDGE. 

Each, 12ino, cloth, $1.00 ; paper, 50 cents. 

The Devastators* 

Path and GoaL 
Materfamilias* 

A Humble Enterprise* 
Fidelis* 

My Guardian* 

The Three Miss Kings* 
Not All in Vain* 

A Marriage Ceremony* 

A Little Minx* 


D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



The 

Devastators 


By 




ADA CAMBRIDGE 

Author of 


•n 


‘‘The Three Miss Kings,” etc. 



l^etD Sorft 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1901 



■pz “S 

.C s szD 


TH^ LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 

Two CoKtta Received 

SEP. 27 1901 

COPVHIOHT ENTRY 

CLASS XXc. N«*. 
COPY B. 


Copyright, 1901, 

By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 
All rights reserved. 


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THE DEVASTATORS 


CHAPTER I 

“ There’$ that awful man ! ” 

What awful man ? Which? Where?’’ 

Just coming in with Mr. Snowden. Mr. Snow- 
den, in his position, ought to know better than to 
countenance such a wretch. I would not be seen 
speaking to him.” 

With a fixed eye. Miss Hedway indicated two 
gentlemen entering the concert room by a door re- 
served for the performers and the privileged patrons 
of the entertainment. Of the latter the great Mr. 
Snowden was inevitably the chief, being the most 
benevolent and munificent of the magnates of the 
town. It almost looked as if he had been having the 
wretch to dine with him — in that palatial white man- 
sion, with its plaster-statue-sprinkled grounds — ig- 
norant, doubtless, of the man’s true character. They 
came in facing the audience, and Miss Peggy Le 
Marchand, Miss Hedway’s Australian niece, noting 
the direction of her aunt’s gaze, turned her own 
upon the leading figure. 


2 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ I must say/' she began, “ that I don’t admire 
those tub-shaped, pudding-cheeked ” 

Oh, that is not the one ! ” Miss Hedway broke 
in. “ That is Mr. Snowden — our mayor three 
times — the noblest of men — a heart of gold ! It is the 
man behind him — the tall, thin one, with the 
glasses. Look at his face.” 

The girl looked again, 'more searchingly. The 
man with the glasses, having entered near the plat- 
form, sat down with the mayor at right angles to it, 
on chairs brought up on purpose for them. Miss 
Hedway had made a point of being early, in order 
to get a good front seat; consequently Peggy was 
now in a position to study the awful person to good 
advantage. 

Why, what is the matter with him ? ” she 
whispered behind her fan. “ You do not call 
that a bad face, surely? I think it quite other- 
wise, myself — so thoughtful — so gentlemanly — so 
kind ” 

My dear,” the aunt interrupted again, you 
young people see nothing below the surface. Now, 
I, even if I had not known what he was, should never 
have trusted those inscrutable eyes.” 

The eyes referred to chanced at the moment to 
travel toward the two ladies, resting for a few sec- 
onds upon Peggy’s face. Peggy’s face, it may be 
explained in passing, was technically incorrect in 
nearly every feature, with hair (red, before red was 
fashionable) to match ; but a sweeter face, apart from 
technicalities, one could not wish to see. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


3 

“ They are inscrutable, Auntie, dear, because his 
specs hide them/' 

‘‘Secret,” murmured Miss Hedway; “shifty — 
evasive ” 

“ Oh, naturally, when he sees rows upon rows 
of people staring straight at him. He doesn’t like 
sitting in that prominent place — turn your head this 
way. Auntie, if you don’t mind — only the other man, 
who does, makes him. He is evidently a modest per- 
son — and shy.” 

Miss Hedway was not going to be taught man- 
ners by a niece from Australia, and kept her head 
rigid. “ How refreshing it is,” she remarked, “ to 
hear your funny, innocent ideas and impressions! 
But when you have been in England a little longer, 
Margaret, you will be a better judge of many 
things.” 

Margaret had not been in England more than a 
few weeks, but she had been in many other parts of 
the world, and really knew a great deal about it for 
a girl still in her early twenties ; whereas Miss Hed- 
way had hardly stirred from her little town since 
she was born in it — in ’33. And so, of course, the 
elder lady was making it the business of her life at 
present to inform the younger’s mind. 

“ Well,” the latter declared, amiably, “ all I can 
say is that, if that is a bad man, I shall never know 
a good one when I see him.” 

“ I dare say you will not, my dear ; I quite antici- 
pate it. Appearances are deceitful. All is not gold 
that glitters; When I tell you what that man does. 


4 


THE DEVASTATORS 


you will not be so ready to admire his face — you, of 
all people ! ” 

“ I believe I shall admire his face through every- 
thing. It grows upon one especially with that foil 
beside it. But what does he do ? ” 

The violins were beginning to squeak and growl 
behind the stage, and Miss Hedway to keep an eager 
watch for the first performers, amateurs of her ac- 
quaintance, that she might explain their surpassing 
merits to the dazzled stranger from the wilds. But 
she turned, with a darkling smile, to deliver the 
dramatic stroke that she had been leading up to. 

He cuts up live animals, Margaret — kills them 
by inches and every imaginable kind of torture, 
under the pretence of making scientific researches 
for his books. He writes books, though I am glad 
to say I never read them. He is what we call here 
a vivisectionist. It is possible that you may have 
heard of them.’’ 

“Oh, haven’t I !” sighed Peggy; and the 
brightness that was its charm died out of her face. 
As her aunt had said, she of all people, could not 
forgive or tolerate that particular crime, for the rea- 
son that her affection for dumb creatures, her sym- 
pathy and solicitude for their fate in this ruthless 
world, were quite passionately keen, and so con- 
stantly in evidence that she was said by her friends 
to have a craze on the subject. For instance, she 
had brought a mongrel terrier all the way from Aus- 
tralia, and carted him about the Continent and to 
every house she went to, at endless expense and in- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


5 


convenience, because she could not bear to part 
with him on her own account, nor bear to think of 
what might happen to him if he were left behind. 
The great drawback to her present visit was Aunt 
Harriet’s objection to Thomas’s presence in the sit- 
ting-rooms — although his mistress washed him 
three times a week with the newest soaps and disin- 
fectants, and was as careful about fleas as if his rusty 
jacket were her own. When she heard that the 
spectacled man was a vivisectionist — for pastime, 
moreover, and not in the regular way of business, 
since he lived at leisure upon ample means — she 
fixed on him a gaze so stern and penetrating that he, 
feeling drawn to notice it, was quite uncomfortable. 
‘ He even blushed slightly, as he shifted on his chair 
so as to shut it off a little. And still his face re- 
mained the same — gentle, thoughtful, intellectual — 
to her thinking the most interesting and the most 
disinguished in the room. So she said, abruptly : 

Aunt Harriet, I don’t believe it.” 

What ! ” Miss Hedway retorted, bridling. 
“ You accuse me of telling falsehoods, Margaret? ” 
“ No, no. Auntie, of course not. But — but 

really — you know, there must be some mistake ” 

“The mistake, my dear, is yours, in thinking 
that you know better than people who live here and 
are familiar with all the circumstances. Walk 
past that house at night — a well-chosen spot for 
such deeds of darkness! — there is not so much as 
a cottage within half a mile — and you will hear 
the poor creatures howling and crying in their 


6 


THE DEVASTATORS 


agony. Ah ! ” — with sudden change of tone — 
“ there is Mrs. Broadhurst, our lady violinist. A 
queenly woman, is she not? Quite in the best so- 
ciety — Mr. Snowden thinks no party complete 
without her. Now, Margaret, you are going to 
have a treat. Did you ever hear a violin before? 
These four are going to play together — what we 
call in England a string quartet. Some people say 
that Norman-Neruda plays better than Mrs. Broad- 
hurst, but I think there is no comparison.” 

With premeditated rapture, she posed to listen. 
Miss Le Marchand leaned back in her chair wearily. 
Her interest in her surroundings, her anticipated 
pleasure in the concert, were gone, although some 
of the amateur music was prettily rendered, and 
she was a music lover. She could think now only 
of those poor things crying in the night — of the 
millions of poor things helpless in the cruel hands 
that should by right protect them — and look at the 
monster with the deceiving face, feeling like losing 
faith in God and man and everything else at the 
idea of a presence so noble being associated with 
such fiendish practices. As for him, he was quite 
worried over the mystery of the change in the de- 
lightful, homely, smiling countenance that had 
caught his eye so pleasantly when he entered the 
room. Again and again he stole a glance at her, the 
flare of her red locks guiding it, and wondered at 
himself that he could feel so perturbed by her strange 
expression and persistent attention to himself. In 
the middle of the performance he quietly turned 


THE DEVASTATORS 


7 

a shoulder to the audience, and thus sat until 
the end. 

The mayor’s speech from the platform and 
God Save the Queen having come to an end, the 
learned-looking spectacles again glimmered upon 
the departing crowd for some minutes. Mr. Snow- 
den was exchanging flatteries with the performers, 
and his guest waited in the background for an op- 
portunity to say good-night. In the interval Miss 
Hedway, drifting doorward, joined group alter 
group of her familiar gossips, to whom she intro- 
duced her colonial niece. They stared at Peggy 
frankly, and were not at all complimentary, she 
thought, in their stage-whispered remarks on her 
appearance, to the effect that she was as fair-skinned 
and nice-looking as one of themselves. They asked 
her simple questions, affably, indulgently, as if she 
were a child of ten; and she answered them with 
patient politeness, smiling with her fine, large mouth 
and even, white teeth, while her eyes still frowned 
absently over their bobbing heads. At every halt 
her gaze wandered back to the tall figure of the 
vivisectionist, each time to meet the wistful gaze 
of his. 

“ Whom is one to trust ? ” she sighed to herself, 
as she threw a woollen scarf over her head and fol- 
lowed Miss Hedway into the street. 

The mayor’s carriage waited against the curb, 
a smart footman in readiness to open the door. The 
sight seemed to fascinate Aunt Harriet. She hung 
in the vicinity, fiddling with her wraps, while she be- 


8 


THE DEVASTATORS 


sought Peggy to notice the excellence of the 
turnout, equal to anything she would see in Hyde 
Park. 

“ That is what we call a brougham,” she ex- 
plained. “ But you should see the barouche ! He 
has eight carriages altogether.” 

She lingered until Mr. Snowden came out — pur- 
posely, as Peggy comprehended when the great 
man appeared. The old lady’s effort to attract his 
notice, and her beaming delight at her success, 
amused and annoyed the girl, who turned to saunter 
on as one not implicated in the proceedings. “ Aha, 
my old friend ! ” she heard him exclaim, in a fat, 
patronizing tone ; and immediately found herself 
dragged back and thrust under his nose. 

“ My niece,” Miss Hedway announced breath- 
lessly, with a tight grab of Peggy’s elbow. “ My 
niece, Margaret Le Marchand — our Jane’s girl. 
You remember our Jane, Mr. Snowden, who went 
to Australia ? ” Aunt Harriet’s meaning simper 
and the archness of her raised brows were eloquent. 

“Remember Jane — pretty Jenny Hedway? I 
should think so ! ” returned the mayor, cordially. 
“And so this is Jenny’s daughter, is it? Well, 
well ! ” 

Nothing could be kinder than he was — asking 
after Jane’s health, telling Peggy that she was a 
very nice young lady, but would never equal her 
mother; bidding Miss Hedway bring her niece to 
Woodlands, and actually driving them home in the 
brougham, none of his family, nor even the vivi- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


9 


sectionist, being with him. Aunt Harriet was well- 
nigh overwhelmed with so much gracious conde- 
scension. 

Ah, my dear,’^ she said, sitting down with her 
guest to their little supper, “ if only your mother 
had played her cards well, she would have been rid- 
ing in that carriage to-night ! ” 

“ She can ride in a carriage now, whenever she 
likes,” laughed Peggy, attacking the bread and but- 
ter. “ But what fun you can see in riding in a car- 
riage on a fine night like this — and not a dozen 
steps to go ” 

“ My dear, I would not have refused for any- 
thing, when he was so kind as to ask us. It pleased 
him to pay that little attention to me, and to you 
for your mother's sake. You must tell your mother 
all about it; she will be deeply interested. Little 
did she think, when she used to flout George Snow- 
den, that he was going to be what he is now ! ” 

“ What was he then ? ” inquired Peggy. 

A — an assistant, merely, but extremely pains- 
taking and business-like. As a little boy, he used 
to beg our empty bottles, to sell to the chemists and 
people. All honour to him for having risen so high 
entirely by his own exertions ! He is believed to be 
worth nearly a quarter of a million. At Woodlands 
they keep six men-servants, besides a perfect army 
of maids. The boudoir and drawing-room are 
hung with silk — one blue, the other pink. The 
prince was a guest there last year. The lunch was 
served upon solid silver.” 


10 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Sipping her cocoa by the drop, and discussing 
this charming subject between the sips, Miss Hed- 
way seemed inclined to make a night of it. Peggy, 
yawning openly, in her uncivilized colonial way, en- 
deavoured, by repressing all signs of interest, to ex- 
haust Aunt Harriet and drive her to bed. The idea 
was that she should go first, with her precious plate- 
basket, leaving to a devoted trustworthy niece the 
task of inspecting doors and windows. 

“We never lock up anything at home,” said 
Peggy, when she got her chance, “ but I have seen 
you do it, and I know every bolt and key. You 
trot along. Auntie — you are more tired than I 
am — and I will go the rounds and make everything 
safe.” 

“ Not at all,” said the aunt, briskly. And she 
exclaimed at the notion that she could go to bed 
while a living creature remained at large upon the 
premises. She had not done such a thing for thirty 
years, and turned pale at the thought of doing it. 
Her own eyes must assure her that the house was 
impregnable and the keys must be under her pil- 
low before she slept. 

Consequently Peggy’s sleep was lost for some 
hours. One o’clock had struck before she felt it 
safe to rise and pursue that object which Miss Hed- 
way’s vigilance had blocked. Noiseless as a run- 
ning mouse, with more than a burglar’s craft and 
caution, the girl pushed upon a well-oiled hinge, 
stayed it with bed pillows, and stole downstairs, one 
creeping step at a time, in a manner most romantic 


THE DEVASTATORS 


1 1 

and mysterious. It took quite fifteen minutes to 
detach the chain and slide the bolts of the back door. 
Five more brought the woolly slippered feet, now 
drenched with dew, to the straw-filled, sheltered 
kennel where Thomas slept in the lap of luxury, 
warm, dry, as well off as a dog could wish to be. 
He heard the approach of the beloved one, and 
rustled out of his hole, wagging head and tail vio- 
lently, but making no noise above a joyous sniff. 
She picked him up, and rolled him in the skirt of her 
dressing-gown, where he lay quite still until she 
unrolled him on her bedroom floor, when she wiped 
him over carefully with a towel before lifting him 
on the bed. Miss Hedway awoke with a start, felt 
for her keys, sat up and listened, but heard nothing. 

Yet I am sure I did hear something,’’ she told her- 
self, in alarm. She could not be satisfied until she 
had patrolled the house afresh, tried all its fasten- 
ings, listened to Jessie’s snores through a keyhole, 
and peeped through a chink of Peggy’s easily 
opened door. 

“ Margaret, are you awake ? ” 

'' Hush-sh ! ” whispered Peggy under the bed- 
clothes. “ Oh, Aunt Harriet, how you startled me ! 
What on earth is the matter ? ” 

“ I thought I heard a noise, Margaret — didn’t 
you? It sounded exactly like a burglar trying to 
saw a hole through the dining-room shutters.” 

‘‘No burglar could get through those shutters. 
Auntie, try as he might.” 

“ If he removed a pane of glass, my dear, and 


12 


THE DEVASTATORS 


then made a hole in the shutters at the right place, 
he could put in his hand, and reach the bar, and 
lift it — easily.” 

“ Well, go and see if he is doing that.” 

I have. There is nothing to see, or hear, now*. 
But I did hear something. I am convinced of it]. 
The sound woke me.” j 

“ You were dreaming, dear. / dreamed just novy' 
that the vivisectors were after stealing my poor 
Thomas — I seemed to hear them getting over th^i 
back gate — and I thought I went downstairs to res| 
cue him. You dream all sorts of things when yoia 
take supper as late as we did.” 

“ Perhaps I did dream it — I hope so. And 
yet ” 

Of course you did. Now go to bed, oldl 
lady, or you will catch your death of cold. And! 
please don’t wake me any more. I always have; 
a headache in the morning if I don’t sleep prop- 

erly.”^ . 1 

Miss Hedway drifted of¥, and for half an hour ir; 
was Peggy who heard noises. Then silence fellj 
Thomas crawled out from between the sheets, anqi 
curled upon the dressing-gown spread for him oveij- 
the silk patchwork quilt. Peggy laid an arm aboutj . 
him, and pillowed her smooth cheek upon his harsh,|, 
pepper-and-salt hide. She could rest now that she 
knew him safe from his human enemies. She would 
have rested better could she have stopped thinking 
of the countless host of his less fortunate fellows 
who had none to defend them. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


13 


In the morning Jessie, the maid, recipient of 
many a gift from the open-handed young lady, was 
called softly and confided in. She took Thomas 
from the bed — a dumb dog still, a conscious co-con- 
spirator — and smuggled him downstairs in time to 
save Miss Hedway’s feelings. 


CHAPTER II 


There had been fog in the night, and there was 
hoar-frost in the morning, and sunshine to make it 
sparkle. Peggy said at breakfast, when her aunt 
asked her what she would like to do, that she would 
take Thomas for a run. She simply must go out, 
she declared. It was spring in England and the 
country in its budding verdure too fascinating for 
words. Moreover, she had had a letter from her 
mother — the dear, homely body who might have 
been Mrs. Snowden if she had played her cards 
well ; and the letter had brought the joyful news of 
a cable from Australia to say that the drought had 
broken up. Droughts at home often pretended to 
break up, and then did not ; this time it was the gen- 
uine thing, with five inches of rain to prove it. 
Peggy’s heart was eased of the trouble of famished 
sheep and cattle perishing in heaps at the gluey 
water-holes, from which water had departed; it 
was autumn there now, and they would have meat 
and drink for a long while — not to speak of the 
nourishment accruing to father’s pocket, which to 
every one else seemed of the most importance. So 
that she was in high spirits once more. Thomas 


14 


THE DEVASTATORS 


15 


also. There was a sympathy between them never 
expressed in human speech, and by natural tem- 
perament they were the cheerfullest pair of crea- 
tures living. 

Once away from Aunt Harriet and the con- 
straint of the little town, the girl carolled like a 
thrush in the exuberance of her soul, marching 
springingly along the nice, hard, level English road ; 
and Thomas, whirling in circles round her, barked 
at the birds that joined in chorus, and quested for 
possible cats in the hedges and ditches with a fren- 
zied aspect truly comical to behold. Although he 
never hurt anything in his life, except by accident 
or as a matter of bounden duty, to chevy cats was 
the pastime he most delighted in. Cats, indeed, 
were a mania with him. Peggy, talking with her 
friends, used to name the harmless, necessary quad- 
ruped in a long sentence, rapidly uttered in a low, 
conversational tone, to demonstrate its electrical ef- 
fect upon him when apparently sound asleep. 

Cat ” was not breathed before he was tearing 
round whatever place confined him, shrieking to be 
at it, though his acute sense must have informed 
him that none was there. When out a-walking with 
his mistress, provided no serious business was on 
foot, he would put up and chase to earth every avail- 
able puss on the line of route with tireless energy 
and interest. Yelps of pain would arise sometimes, 
and he would return with a bleeding nose or a rent 
in his rough coat, which had become seamed with 
scars like the darns in an old garment; but never 


i6 


THE DEVASTATORS 


with his crest lowered or his tail between his legs. 
That expressive stump wagged utter satisfaction 
when Peggy told him it served him right, and the 
still more expressive eyes at once began to look 
for another. 

They travelled on this occasion quite two miles 
without any cat adventure. But when about mid- 
way of the homeward journey, passing the gates 
of a lonely habitation, almost invisible through the 
network of its surrounding trees, the dog espied a 
kitten. She was snowy white, very conspicuous, 
sitting in a complacent ball at the top of one of the 
gate-posts. The approach of the young lady caused 
the little animal no alarm, but when she saw Thomas 
she rose in a bristling arch, hoisting a tail like a 
bottle-brush and using all the profane language at 
her command. He, taking in his lolling tongue and 
bracing his weary muscles, was after her in a twin- 
kling. She popped behind the gate like a diving 
water-rat; he leaped clean over it like a hunting 
greyhound. It was simply wonderful what he could 
do, for his size, under these inspiring circumstances. 

Then out from the cottage flanking the gate 
pounced the irate gatekeeper, brandishing a stick. 
Squeals ensued, and Thomas was fain to turn tail in 
greater haste, and with less dignity than usual. 
Peggy, some yards ahead, wheeled and called 
“ Come here, sir ! ” in tones calculated to propitiate 
the gatekeeper, and at the same moment saw the 
delinquent attempt his leap again and fail, and 
heard, with responsive anguish, those heartrending 


THE DEVASTATORS 


17 

yells which only a dog in agony can utter. She 
darted to the gate and found poor Thomas hanging 
in its convoluted iron-work by an apparently broken 
leg. She seized the latch to open it ; it was fast with 
a stout chain and padlock, impossible to move. 
Looking wildly up the garden path — a lovely, bee- 
haunted lime walk — she saw running down it to- 
ward her, five dogs and a flock of turtle-doves flying 
after him, the “ awful man pointed out to her at the 
concert the night before. The law of coincidences 
had rendered it inevitable that this particular gate 
should be his gate. 

“Oh! Oh!!” she shrieked, involuntarily; and 
she stuck her toe into Thomas’s trap and leaned 
over the top bar in a vain but frantic effort to reach 
him. The proprietor of the premises almost col- 
lided with her projecting head as he lifted the 
struggling dog and gently freed him. 

“ It is all right,” he assured her, soothingly. 
“No bones broken. A nasty wrench and a super- 
ficial scratch or two, that’s all. I will dress the foot 
and bind it, and he will be quite sound again in a day 
or two. — You were not chasing him, William?” 
turning with severity to the gatekeeper, whose stick 
had vanished. 

“ No, sir. I was only saying ‘ Shoo ’ to him, sir. 
He was after Snowball, sir.” 

“ Get the key, quick,” commanded his master, 
who then addressed himself again to Peggy, ex- 
pressing his sorrow at the unfortunate accident and 
his apologies for the gate being closed against her. 


i8 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ It is because of the boys,” he explained. 
“ Boys are so mischievous and disturbing, and often 
so cruel, I grieve to say.” 

He spoke of their being cruel, as if robbing 
birds’-nests were a worse crime than cutting up live 
animals bit by bit. 

Meanwhile Thomas remained in his arms, with- 
out at all seeming to realize where he was. His 
piercing yells sank to shuddering wails, to deprecat- 
ing whimpers, to that dignified and patient silence in 
which a dog bears suffering from the moment that 
he has had time to collect himself. The other dogs 
stood round, sniffing inquiringly, and the doves, 
alighting on the nearest tree, craned their necks 
downward to see what was going on. Peggy felt a 
passing wonder at the sleekness and tameness of 
these creatures, but supposed they were pampered 
and fattened, like the victims of cannibalism and 
other savage rites, to get them into good condition 
for those dire experiments. The instant she found 
herself through the gate, she demanded her own 
treasure, with the airs of a highwayman. 

“ He is far too heavy for you,” the man objected. 

Give him to me,” she insisted, sternly. 

Perforce he did so, in the fashion of a mother 
lowering her baby into the embrace of a small child, 
and Thomas yelped with the pain of the transfer. 

“ Oh, you villain ! ” scolded Peggy, to hide the 
fact that she was on the point of tears. How 
many times haven’t I warned you that this would 
happen? Serve you right for an old idiot — yes, it 


THE DEVASTATORS 


19 

does! You need not look at me in that tone of 
voice. I don’t pity you in the least.” 

Thomas blinked and wagged a feeble tail, as if 
this abuse consoled him ; but he was not comfortable 
in his mistress’s arms, which had to shift him every 
minute to get him into a carryable position. 

“ Bring him in here,” said Dr. Dallas — her aunt 
had told her that such was the awful man’s name 
and style — indicating the lodge cottage. I will 
send to the house for some lint and things, and we 
will bandage that leg at once, before it swells.” 

Well, she thought she might do that much, al- 
though she hated to set foot in the place. The leg 
was puffing up already, and sticky with congealing 
blood ; she and Thomas were a mile from home, and 
he was incapable of going farther in his present con- 
dition. So they entered a neat, small room, and, 
its owner being despatched for surgical appliances 
from the house. Dr. Dallas and Miss Le Marchand 
sat down on two Windsor chairs, with Thomas on 
a deal table between them. The man wound a tem- 
porary handkerchief round the patient’s injured 
limb, and kept his hand upon it, holding it in place. 
Strange to say, Thomas not only showed no objec- 
tion to that hand, presumably accursed, but even 
licked it from time to time. Could he not scent the 
martyr’s blood that it had shed, as cattle scent the 
meaning of the slaughter-yard before they see it? 
And he so keen-nosed and clever ! 

I don’t understand it,” she said aloud. 

“ What don’t you understand ? ” Dr. Dallas 


20 


THE DEVASTATORS 


asked her gently. He was gazing at her through 
his spectacles, with all sorts of subtle expressions 
chasing each other over his face. 

“ The way that dog seems to take to you.” 

Oh, there is nothing odd in that. Most dogs 
take to me. I am afraid to look at one in the street 
for fear it should get up and follow me home.” 

‘‘ You don't want them to follow you home? ” 

'' Well, their owners would not want it, would 
they?” 

“ I should say not ! ” she returned with a grim 
lip. And it was dreadful to her to think of these 
poor innocents, with their more than human powers 
of divination, being as imposed upon by his looks 
as she was. 

He began to tell her that he had had the pleasure 
of seeing her at the concert last night, but was cut 
short by the return of his messenger. Then Thomas 
was held down on the deal table — she insisted on 
holding him herself — while his leg was dressed and 
bandaged. It was not necessary to thus coerce him, 
for he never thought of rebelling against the hard 
usage that he knew was for his good — only winced 
and shivered and whined tremulously, as little as 
living flesh could help ; and, moreover, the operator 
performed his task with such swift deftness and deli- 
cacy of touch that it did not seem possible he could 
have given pain. The white cat, by the way, sat all 
the time upon the window-seat, a deeply interested 
spectator, showing no animosity toward her fallen 
enemy, who for his part regarded her with a mag- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


21 


nanimous eye. And the dogs of her household 
surged like waves around the cottage, yapping and 
barking, and the air seemed full of the notes of birds 
and calls of animals whose voices were strange to 
the Australian girl. Hearing them so distinctly in 
the silence of the room, and watching the wonderful 
dexterity of Dr. Dallas’s hands, she had cold chills 
at the heart, and shuddered visibly. 

“ One can see that you are — a surgeon,” she 
said. 

“ But I am not,” he replied, looking up at her, 
while he patted Thomas’s head. '' You think that 
because you have mistaken my degree ! It is a mere 
honorary LL.D. ; I was never in the medical pro- 
fession. But,” he added, “ I have had a great deal 
of experience in treating animals.” 

At this Peggy’s feelings overcame her, and she 
let herself go. 

“ Oh, how can you speak of it? ” she cried, pas- 
sionately and with tears. “ How can you ? How 
can you ? ” 

His sensitive face expressed such utter bewilder- 
ment and consternation that the words were not out 
of her mouth before she divined that she was doing 
him an injustice— that Aunt Harriet’s ridiculous 
tale was just a stupid and baseless calumny. 

“ They tell me,” she continued, colouring 
deeply, “ that you are a vivisector, spending all your 
time in this lonely house and your laboratory cutting 
up live animals.” 

I — I! ” he gasped, as if stunned by the charge. 


22 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ Good heavens ! '' Grasping the meaning of the 
words, he flushed as red as she ; then threw back his 
head and laughed. 

Who told you that, may I ask ? ’’ 

‘‘ My aunt. Miss Harriet Hedway.” 

Good heavens ! ” he ejaculated again. “ Do 
you suppose it is a common superstition? Do the 
neighbours in general share it ? 

“ I should say they do, since she was my in- 
formant. She seems to know everything about 
everybody.’^ 

When did she tell you ? ” 

Last night ” 

‘^Just after the music had begun — yes; now I 
understand.” 

‘‘ What?” 

The dreadful expression of your face when 
you looked at me.” 

I hope I was not so rude ” 

“ Oh, you could not help it — not if you were 
told that ; but ” — fixing her with a reproachful 
eye — “ you believe that of me ? ” 

Forgive me,” she answered, in the sweetest, 
frankest way. “ Aunt Harriet was so very positive, 
and I — I, you know, am a perfect stranger in these 
parts.” 

“ Would it,” he said, with the hesitation of a shy 
man, “ be an impertinence to ask your name — since 
there is no one to introduce us ? ” 

Margaret Le Marchand,” she glibly replied. 

My mother is Miss Hedway’s sister. I have just 


THE DEVASTATORS 


23 


come from Australia, where I belong. We are home 
to educate the boys. My parents are travelling just 
now, and I am visiting my aunt.” 

“ Is your father related to the Le Marchands of 
Dorlcote ? ” 

“ Mr. Gordon Le Marchand, of Dorlcote, is my 
uncle.” 

My family have a place quite close to Dorl- 
cote — Rumford.” 

“ Oh, I know Rumford — that lovely old Hall 
that is shut up.” 

“ My brother is a great invalid. He can not live 
in England.” 

“ But what a pity to let a house like that go 
to waste ! Why don’t you live there and take care 
of it for him ? ” 

I am supposed not to know how to take 
care of a place. Besides, this one suits me bet- 
ter. I can do as I like here. It is quiet for my 
work.” 

‘‘Your work?” 

“A book I am trying to write. Not,” he 
laughed, with recurrent amusement and vexation, 
“ the cutting up of live animals. Gracious heavens ! ” 
— rising to rinse his hands in a basin provided by 
the lodge-keeper. “ How a man’s character may 
be blasted — ay, his very life, as likely as not — ^with- 
out his knowing anything about it ! And to think 
that you believed that of me ! ” 

“ I will never believe anything I am told again 
as long as I live,” declared Peggy, vehemently. 


24 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ Come,” he said, in a joyous tone, all his shy- 
ness gone, “ come and see my laboratory. Come 
and see it yourself, and then you can tell Miss Hed- 
way how I dissect live animals.” 

He was so much of a student and a recluse that, 
meeting Mrs. Grundy very rarely, he sometimes 
failed to remember that such a potentate existed. 
Peggy Le Marchand, when deeply interested in any- 
thing, was apt to be equally forgetful. 

“ Certainly,” she responded, without a moment’s 
hesitation. I should love to see it.” 

We will take your dog with us. His leg is 
quite safe now, and he would not understand being 
left in a strange place without you. You will let me 
carry him ? ” 

“ Don’t,” she murmured. 

So they went together through the sweet-smell- 
ing spring garden, studded thickly with little houses 
and hutches and scores of cosy hiding-places in- 
visible to a stranger’s eye ; and all kinds of creatures 
— common creatures of the field — came out to tod- 
dle after them, unmolested by the playful dogs, until 
Peggy said it reminded her of Noah leading his 
procession into the ark. The ark in this case was a 
fair-sized, old-fashioned, middle-class mansion, and 
these garden dwellers were, very gently and cour- 
teously, refused admission to it. The man, the girl 
and the crippled terrier entered alone, and meeting 
no one on the way, ascended a carpetless staircase 
to the upper floor. 

“ This is my laboratory,” said the host, pausing 


THE DEVASTATORS 


25 

at a closed door. “ I think we shall have to leave 
Thomas outside, if you don’t mind.” 

“ I will tie him to the banister,” said Thomas’s 
mistress, and did so with a pocket handkerchief in a 
most casual style. The spectator of the operation 
suggested that a mouse could break such bonds. 

“ He could,” said Peggy, “ but he won’t. If I 
were to fasten him with sewing cotton, he would not 
break it. He understands what it means. — Lie 
down, sir ! ” 

Thomas lay down, looked up at his mistress, and 
thumped his tail gently on the bare boards. Dr. 
Dallas’s face of comprehension was a study. 

Good dog ! Good old dog ! That is what I 
love to see ! You are like me — you don’t believe in 
brute force. Ah, it is men that are the brutes, not 
these gentle creatures! I tell you. Miss Le Mar- 
chand, if I could buy up all the dog chains and cages 
and make sure they would never be replaced — the 
misery of my life is the captivity, the sufferings, the 
wrongs — but I see you are laughing at me.” 

‘‘ Laughing at you I ” exclaimed Peggy, indig- 
nantly. “ I never was further from laughing in my 
life. Or, if I did laugh, it was for pure joy to find, at 
last, somebody who feels about these things just 
exactly the same as I do.” 

They looked at each other as neither had looked 
at anybody before. 

‘‘ Then come and see my pets,” said Dr. Dallas ; 
and he took her hand in a simple way, as she frankly 
surrendered it. ‘‘We must get through quickly, 


26 


THE DEVASTATORS 


and then you had better let me go forward, as they 
are so very demonstrative. I am afraid there is a 
little odour — I try my best to prevent it — the fact is, 
they accumulate at such a rate, and I can not bear to 
destroy any of them when they seem so happy.” 

He opened the door and entered with a long 
stride, gently pulling her with him. 

“ Phe-ew!” 

She could not help the exclamation. It was an 
unusually spacious chamber, and its large windows 
admitted air through screens of fine wire-work 
placed in front of each open sash ; but the “ odour ” 
was pronounced. And no wonder. From a mys- 
terious pen at one end of the room, and from each 
of the few pieces of plain furniture, and from all 
over the oak floor, swarms of white rats at a wild 
scamper converged upon the master of the house, 
and over-ran him as he stood, a few paces distant 
from his companion. Some sat down on the crown 
of his head, some crawled round his ears and along 
the top of his collar, some up his sleeves, and some 
down the inside of his coat and waistcoat and into 
his pockets, which were significantly wide and 
baggy. It was a curious and funny sight. And the 
funniest thing about it was his air of voluptuous 
bliss. 

“ I did not want them,” he explained, turning 
carefully to address his astonished visitor. “ I did 
not intend to inflict upon myself this horde. But 
they would come. And what am I to do when they 
confide their lives and liberties to me like this? 


THE DEVASTATORS 


27 


Here'’ — indicating one sleek fellow, which ran 
straight to his offered palm and sat there quietly — 
“ here is the father of them all. I discovered him 
in the possession of a boy who kept him in a biscuit 
tin. I saw that he was quite tame, but leading a 
most wretched, unnatural existence, so I bought 
him and brought him home. The little thing at- 
tached himself to me from the first — ate out of my 
hand — played about my table when I was writing — 
seemed quite contented alone with me, but I always 
think it cruel to keep a dumb creature without a 

companion of its own kind. So I got another " 

good gray eyes were dancing with de- 
lighted amusement at the result. 

'' It is dreadful, isn't it — the rate at which they 
accumulate? That place" — pointing to their pen, 
which was filled with soft hay and woolly stuff — “ is 
alive with infant families. I see pink streaks 
wherever I look — really a most serious position, and 
one that is giving me great anxiety. However " — 
remembering Mrs. Grundy suddenly — “ I must not 
keep you. I will send them about their business 
now that you have seen them." 

He gave himself a shake, and they streamed 
from him like water. By stamping his foot noisily 
on the floor, he sent them scuttling to their pen, and, 
by continuing to stamp at intervals of a few seconds, 
kept them there. But they had no sooner plunged 
into covert than as many as could crowd together 
in the three open doorways popped back again, and 
sat there in eager attitudes, forepaws upraised and 


28 


THE DEVASTATORS 


sensitive little snouts cocked in air, wrinkling and 
sniffing ; and if the master on whom their bright eyes 
were fixed kept silence for ten seconds at most, they 
dived to the floor again and scampered toward him. 
In order to effect a safe retreat, he finally drove them 
home and closed their doors upon them. Then a 
score of tiny twiddling noses were poked through 
the wire walls, and it was evident that he found 
their appeal hard to resist. 

“ I am sorry to say I am often obliged to lock 
them up now that there are so many of them,” he re- 
marked, regretfully. When I had only one, and 
even when the first family or two played about my 
table with him, I could manage to write very well ; 
you see I have always been accustomed to that 
sort of thing. But now they really do disturb me 
when my work happens to be of any importance. 
They drop on the wet page, or run races over it; 
they carry off my papers ; they even pull the pen out 
of my hand when they are in very high spirits. You 
see the devices I have to resort to, to keep anything 
where I want to find it.” 

He showed his large writing-table, fitted with a 
rough lid like a cucumber frame, to put on and off ; 
his numerous books in closed bookcases, and vari- 
ous portable wardrobe-like cupboards, the tops of 
which supported projecting trays and roosting 
places for casual birds and beasts. Then he looked 
at her silently, and she looked at him. 

“ If you will go first,” he said softly, “ I will fol- 
low you immediately.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


29 


She turned and slipped from the room, closing 
the door behind her. He followed as soon as he had 
let the rats out of their cage. 

Shortly afterward she entered her aunt’s house, 
alone — one glow from head to foot. 

“ Aunt Harriet,” she said to the worried-look- 
ing spinster, “ do you believe in love at first 
sight ? ” 

“ My dear,” responded Miss Hedway, with as- 
perity, “ do you know that it is nearly half an hour 
after lunch time? ” 

I neither know nor care. Auntie — that is, I 
mean to say I am extremely sorry to hear it. An- 
swer my question, madam — do you believe in love 
at first sight ? ” 

“ I am not going to answer anything so silly. Go 
and take your hat off.” 

It isn’t silly. You have no idea what a lot there 
is in it. And I am not going out of this room until 
you tell me.” She set her back to the door and 
spread out her arms, and stood there barring the way 
and laughing, a charming picture of blooming and 
joyous youth. “ Come, it is a perfectly civil ques- 
tion. You have only to say ‘ Yes ’ or ‘ No.’ ” 

No” snapped Aunt Harriet, desperately. 

“ You don’t? Well, then I do ; I never did until 
to-day. I have been the greatest unbeliever living. 
But this morning I am converted.” 

Miss Hedway was suddenly impressed with her 
responsibilities as an aunt. She stood still, forget- 
ting that it was half an hour after lunch time, and 


3 


30 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Stared at her niece attentively, a world of suspicion 
in her eyes. 

“ Where have you been this morning ? she 
demanded. 

“ I will not be like you,’’ returned the laughing 
girl. “ I will answer frankly and freely. I have been 
to see your vivisectionist — Dr. Dallas, you know.” 

Miss Hedway stared harder, and tightened her 
lips. 

“ If this is your Australian idea of a joke, Mar- 
garet, I can only say ” 

‘‘ It is not the least bit of a joke. Aunt Harriet, 
but sober, solid, gospel truth. I really have been 
to see him. I have seen his laboratory, where he 
cuts up the live animals, and I have left him Thomas 
to experiment on. He is going to bring me the re- 
mains this afternoon. May we have a fire in the 
drawing-room. Auntie, dear? And some nice hot 
muffins for tea ? ” 

“ Margaret,” said the exasperated woman, ** if 
you were a man, I should say you were intoxicated.” 

I am intoxicated. Auntie, although I am not 
a man. Don’t I tell you that I have fallen in love at 
first sight — hopelessly, utterly, irretrievably in love ? 
If that is not as good as beer or brandy any day ” 

She broke off to laugh at Aunt Harriet’s face of 
shocked dismay, and ran upstairs, laughing still, to 
take off her hat and coat. 


CHAPTER III 


Nevertheless, the reader is not to assume that 
he can now see what is coming. His experience 
will have taught him that it is a common thing for 
a girl and a man, who would exactly suit each otl^er, 
to have an opportunity to recognise the fact — to 
clearly recognise it — and pass on their different 
ways as if still unacquainted. This is a tale of com- 
mon things, of the every-day happenings of human 
life. And in ordinary affairs of love, as in all affairs 
that we know of, there are certain natural laws that 
must be taken into account. Any little breath of 
chance will scatter seeds that have not rooted. 

Peggy Le Marchand and Dr. Dallas did not ful- 
fil the promise of their first interview. What they 
might have done, if left alone, it is impossible to say, 
but such fertilizing agents as tea and muffins and the 
drawing-room fire would doubtless have encour- 
aged the germ in their hearts, the soil of which was 
so good and clean. A few days, perhaps only a few 
hours, and the seed should have “ struck ” safely. 
But a little wind of destiny arose. 

It was a telegram from Uncle Gordon, to say 
that Gerald, one of the boys at school, had met 


31 


32 


THE DEVASTATORS 


with a slight accident and been sent home to be 
nursed. “ Nothing to alarm anybody,” said Mr. 
Le Marchand, of Dorlcote, who, being a poor man, 
took no pains to condense his message, “ but I 
want your help.” 

“ I should think so ! ” Peggy exclaimed — she 
was in the middle of her hearty lunch. “ Poor old 
uncle, with his faddy bachelor waysl Even when 
they are well, he can just bear with the boys as 
necessary evils, crosses laid upon him by an inscru- 
table Providence, and it is all that he can do. Jerry 
home in term time, and sick, and mother away — he 
will be desperate. What, I wonder, has the imp 
done to himself this time? Old Grace is nasty 
to them too, because of their dirty boots — which 
is all the fault of this muddy country. Aunt 
Harriet, I must go at once. When is the next 
train?” 

Miss Hedway, Under the mortification of her 
mistake regarding Dr. Dallas, was in the mood to 
know nothing about trains. In the society that she 
was accustomed to there were always gentlemen es- 
corts to attend to travelling arrangements; it was 
not the thing for single girls to career alone about 
the country, although doubtless it was a common 
practice in Australia. Far from assisting Peggy to 
meet the demands of the telegram, she formally re- 
fused to be a party to further improprieties. Once 
outside the house, Peggy could do as she chose — 
Miss Hedway washed her hands of her ; as long as 
she remained its guest, her aunt must be excused 


THE DEVASTATORS 


33 

for regarding herself as responsible in the eyes of 
the world. 

“ But, my dear lady, you see I must go. There 
is no question about that. And if there is no person 
to go with me, can I help it ? ” pleaded Peggy, with 
the patience of her large nature. 

“ Gladly would I go with you,^^ said Aunt Har- 
riet ; “ but as I have not been asked — as I have 
never been taken the slightest notice of by Mr. 
Gordon Le Marchand ” 

“ Oh, but Auntie, dearie, that is uncle’s way with 
everybody. He is the rudest man ! But he does 
not mean it. And you know there is no mistress at 
Dorlcote, so of course he can not entertain anybody 
but men.” 

“ I am alluding to the time when your mother 
was at Dorlcote — my own sister. And I wonder 
Jane has not too much pride to go to a place where 
her family is looked down upon. But she never 
had any pride, unfortunately. Otherwise ” 

“ Otherwise,” thought Peggy, “ she would have 
married the odious ex-bottle-boy and his vulgar 
Woodlands, instead of a gentleman like father.” 
But she attempted to turn the subject by asking 
what in the world she should do about Thomas. 

It is simply not to be thought of,” she de- 
clared, “ that I can leave him behind me. I must 
have a fly at once, and go and fetch him.” 

“ Not from this house will you go and fetch 
him,” returned Miss Hedway, promptly. “ No, Mar- 
garet. I may not be good enough for the Le Mar- 


34 


THE DEVASTATORS 


chands of Dorlcote — I may be obliged to sit idly 
here, while you, my niece, career about the country 
alone, like any shop-girl — but I am still a lady, I 
trust, and must beg to have the fact remembered. 
Never have I disgraced the title, that I am aware 
of ” 

“ Nor I,” put in Peggy. 

“ You think not, my dear; I give you credit for 
your ignorance of les convenances. I dare say it is 
quite customary in Australia for single girls to visit 

bachelors’ houses ” 

Now, Auntie, stop it ! I will not have you 
dragging in Australia that way. You know I did 
not go visiting bachelors’ houses — how did I know 
whose house it was? I went after Thomas. What 
I did was a work of necessity and mercy, like cook- 
ing dinners on Sundays. Any girl would have done 
it, single or double ; y6u would yourself.” 

“ An English lady, Margaret, would not have 
gone farther than the lodge.” 

Peggy blushed, and looked at her watch. 

“ Well, now just tell me. Aunt Harriet — I have 
no more time to waste — how am I to get my dog? ” 

“ You must send for him.” 

“ Whom am I to send? Will you go — with me? 
I can sit and wait outside the gate.” 

If I were a married woman, my dear, I would, 
certainly; but under the circumstances — well,” the 
pursed lips seemed to say, “ I am a little more par- 
ticular about my reputation than you are.” 

thought to herself that it was no wonder 


THE DEVASTATORS 


35 


Aunt Harriet was not a married woman. Further- 
more, the girl resolved that, since the old lady could 
be so nasty to her for nothing at all, she would not 
return to finish her visit when Jerry was restored 
to school, as she had proposed to do ; whereby an- 
other blow was dealt at a promising romance. But 
poor Aunt Harriet had justification for her ill- 
humour. Added to the chagrin of finding that Dr. 
Dallas was not a vivisectionist, and the mortification 
of being ignored as a person of no consequence by 
Mr. Gordon Le Marchand, was the knowledge that 
her niece’s sojourn with her meant a valuable addi- 
tion to her income, which might be expected to cease 
with her departure. 

“ Well,” said Peggy, turning away, “ then there 
is nothing for it but to send a note to Dr. Dallas, 
and ask him to bring Thomas to me. I don’t know 
how well-behaved English people can think it right 
for single girls to put themselves under heavy obli- 
gations to single men who are strangers to them, 
but I am sure he will do it — like a shot. I will ask 
him to meet me at the station.” 

While the girl was absent Miss Hedway reflected 
upon the difficulty, calling to mind that Dr. Dallas, 
besides being purged of the crime attributed to him, 
was a friend of Mr. Snowden’s; and when Peggy 
reappeared it was to be implored, in amiable accents, 
not to be rash. 

Do not, my dear child, write in your own name 
to Dr. Dallas ; it would be most forward — most im- 
proper ” 


36 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ Auntie, it is done. I have given a boy half a 
crown to take the letter, and run all the way. He 
should be nearly there by this time.” 

Then Miss Hedway was ready to go for Thomas, 
with or without Peggy ; to send a servant for him, 
to write apologies and retractions to Dr. Dallas, 
and do several other things ; but now Peggy was 
immovable. 

“ It is done. Auntie. It is all arranged. And I 
am going to pack up.” 

Her determination to pack all, leaving nothing 
behind, caused acute distress to the hostess, expos- 
tulations, entreaties, even tears ; but they went affec- 
tionately to the station, on the understanding that 
Peggy was to let her aunt know when the visit 
could be resumed — a soothing but meaningless ar- 
rangement. A brougham had arrived before them, 
and they were met by Dr. Dallas and Thomas, whose 
leg was so splintered and bandaged that he could 
safely use the other three, and even gambol to some 
extent in welcoming his mistress. 

“ How can I ever thank you ? ” murmured the 
girl, as the patient was handed over. 

“ It has been the greatest pleasure,” replied the 
man, with equal fervour. More than I can ex- 
press.” He looked at her luggage being carried 
to the platform. “ You are going away? ” 

She told him she was, and why. “ And don’t 
you ever come to Rumford ? ” 

But there was no time to talk. Aunt Harriet, 
all smiles and simpers, stepped in with her “ Dr. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


37 


Dallas, I presume ? '' and, explaining and apologiz- 
ing, stood between them to the end. Dr. Dallas 
was gently distant and reserved with Aunt Harriet, 
although she refused to see it, and he kept his mild 
spectacles steadily fixed upon Peggy’s gravely com- 
placent face. 

She and Thomas were put into a carriage by 
themselves ; it did not occur to her to wonder why 
the station officials were so indulgent. “ And you 
are sure you will be met ? ” Dr. Dallas inquired ear- 
nestly, holding her hand at the last moment. 

“ Sure,” she smiled back, doing all her part in 
the warm clasp. If not, I should be all right. I 
am accustomed to career about the country, as my 
aunt calls it, and I have Thomas to protect me. 
With one leg he would make shift to do it. Good- 
bye. And thank you — thank you ” 

“ If you please, sir,” interposed the porter, po- 
litely pushing him. 

The train was moving. Peggy craned forward 
and bowed impressively to a lifted hat. Another 
moment and its place was filled with little neat Eng- 
lish fields and budding April hedgerows, at which 
she gazed pensively, noting none of the details which 
heretofore had made them interesting. Thomas 
sprawled over her lap, and she caressed him per- 
functorily. “ That stupid little Jerry! ” she sighed. 
“ We should now have been having tea.” 

Nothing happened for an hour, by which time 
she had made the greater part of her journey. Then, 
as the train was starting afresh, a breathless young 


THE DEVASTATORS 


38 

man, with a reluctant guard in tow, compelled her 
locked door to open and bounced in upon her. 

“ I beg your pardon,” said he, “ but is this car- 
riage reserved ? ” 

“ Not that I am aware of,” she replied pleas- 
antly. “ I have not reserved it.” 

“ They wanted to make me think it was, to save 
themselves a bit of trouble. And it is market-day 
here, and the rest of the train full. If you don't 
mind ? ” 

“ Oh, certainly.” She did not mind in the least, 
although Thomas was rather annoyed. But then 
Thomas had no locus standi. The young man could 
have objected to Thomas being there; instead of 
which he smiled upon the dog in the kindest 
manner. 

“ He is quite clean,” said Peggy. 

Oh, I like dogs,” said the young man, not 
knowing how luckily he had chosen his words. A 
broken leg? ” 

“ I don’t think it is quite broken,” said Peggy, 
always frank and friendly, and unable to refuse the 
bait of this interesting subject. She explained the 
nature of the injury, how it had been caused, and the 
measures that had been taken to repair it. His sym- 
pathetic and respectful comments led her on, until 
they were presently chatting together like guests 
who meet in private life. Though he thought her 
plain, he was attracted by her style, and by the easy 
sweetness of a manner which was still very well- 
bred; and she was attracted by good looks so pro- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


39 


nounced that they needed little to back them. A 
tall, fair, fine young fellow, British all over, public 
schoolman and athlete, he captivated her with his 
gallant bearing, with that muscular development 
without which no male person can be really heroic 
to a girl. His well-cut tweeds and well-got-up 
linen, his nice nails, his nice voice, with its refined 
English accent, all helped the effect. And whereas 
Dr. Dallas, of the intellectual face, was probably 
forty, this possibly brainless Apollo was probably 
twenty-six. 

It seemed almost no time before they reached a 
station which the young man said, in accents of re- 
gret, was the last but one — for him. 

“ And for me also,” said Peggy, brightly. 

"‘ What, do you get out at Dareham?” 

“ I believe so.” ' 

“ Are you, by any chance — excuse such a rude 
question — the Miss Le Marchand expected at Dorl- 
cote to-night ? ” 

Of course she said she was, and he then told her 
that he was Harry Bedingfield, son of Mr. Beding- 
field of Dareham, Mr. Le Marchand’s solicitor. 
To him, the speaker, had been intrusted the 
duty of meeting the injured boy — who was not 
very much injured — at Dareham station last night, 
and conveying him out to Dorlcote, him and 
his caretaker, a young doctor of the name of Mac- 
pherson. 

“ Macdonald,” corrected Peggy, with a joyous 
“ What was he like ? ” 


eye. 


40 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ A long, lanky, bony man, with sandy hair, and 
a scar on the forehead, and a stoop ” 

‘‘ Keith, of course. How glad I am ! There is 
nobody like Keith when you want anything done. 
Only I did not know he was back from Germany. 
He has been in Germany, studying; he went there 
from Edinburgh; he was at Melbourne University 
before that. An awfully clever fellow, though he 
does not look it.” 

“ No,” smiled the stranger. 

One does not judge a man by his looks,” the 
girl quickly retorted to this too ready acquiescence. 
“ You should see his testimonials. And he was 
really not so plain before he had that scar, which 
spoils him, cocking up his eyebrow the way it does. 
And do you know how he got it? Fetching horses 
out of a burning stable when no one else would 
risk his life for mere animals. He saved them, and 
they kicked him to pieces for it, not knowing what 
they were doing, poor things. He has a white burn- 
scar, too, all down his arm. Dear old Keith! If 
handsome is as handsome does — But no wonder 
people make little of him, when he is so ridiculously 
humble and modest. If you want to offend him and 
drive him into the sulks, you have only to mention 
those horses and tell him how brave he was. He 
treats the episode as if it were a personal dis- 
grace. Same with his scholarships ; you would 
imagine, by his manner, that he had been plucked 
every time. I tell him he will never get on in 
the world. But perhaps that does not matter. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


41 

He will always be loved by those who really 
know him” 

Mr. Bedingfield felt dimly jealous. “ One per- 
son loves him, evidently,’^ he ventured, with a smile. 

“ Yes,” said Peggy, blushing. “ I love him as 
if he were my own brother — which, to all intents 
and purposes, he is. His people live close by us at 
home. We have been brought up together. Our 
boys think the world of him — so they ought. I 
might almost have known he would be somewhere 
around when Jerry needed looking after, mother 
and I being both away ; and if only uncle had told 
me he was here, I should have been saved a lot of 
worry.” 

Then she asked particulars of Jerry’s injury, 
which she learned was a shoulder sprain or frac- 
ture, not important, but tedious. 

“ Got, I believe,” said Mr. Bedingfield, “ while 
wrestling with one of his school-fellows.” 

Fighting,” corrected Peggy. “ They make 
fun of him about Australia, and he can’t stand it. 
His hands have simply been imbrued in blood from 
the first day that he went to school.” 

“They won’t make fun of him long, if that is 
how he takes it.” 

“ I don’t know. My brother Phil, the eldest, 
does not care what they say, and so they leave him 
alone.” 

“You have two brothers?” 

“Just the two at school. I am the only girl.” 
And she went on to tell him of her travelling par- 


42 


THE DEVASTATORS 


ents, and how they were going to take a house 
when they returned, and so on. The domestic 
chronicle included more information about Thomas, 
who still had not made up his mind whether he 
liked the new acquaintance or not. Touching anew 
upon the latest episode in his career, Peggy was 
surprised to discover that Mr. Bedingfield had 
never, to his knowledge, set eyes upon Dr. Dallas, 
although he had often heard of him. 

“ A regular crank, I believe,'' said the young 
man. 

“ A crank ! " Peggy almost snorted, red with 
indignation. “Nothing of the kind. Or, if he is, 
it is a pity there are not a few more such cranks. 
Crank, indeed ! What next ? " 

“ Oh," said her companion, hastily, “ I don't 
know him at all ; I am only repeating what I have 
heard." 

“ You should never go by what you hear, but 
only by what you know," Peggy reproved him. 
“ I heard that he was a vivisectionist. I shall 
never believe anything I hear again as long as 
I live." 

She inquired how it was that Mr. Bedingfield 
did not know Dr. Dallas, who must often have been 
so near a neighbour. Mr. Bedingfield answered that 
Dr. Dallas had never been his neighbour. 

“ The old squire comes and goes at intervals — 
long intervals — but his brother has not visited Rum- 
ford for over twenty years." 

“Why not?" 


THE DEVASTATORS 


43 

“ They quarrelled when they were young, and 
never made it up.” 

“ It was not Dr. Dallas’s fault, I know.” 

What a thorough-going partisan you are ! I 
wish I could think my friends stood up for me be- 
hind my back as you stand up for yours.” 

“ I am not a partisan,” said Peggy. “ I am only 
just and fair.” 


CHAPTER IV 


The train slowed into Dareham, by which 
time friendship was established between these two 
young people. Peggy began to collect her small 
luggage, including Thomas, and Mr. Bedingfield to 
assist her. As they drew up at the platform, the face 
of a third friend — the old friend — appeared at the 
window. 

Ah, here he is ! ” the girl exclaimed, in a tone 
of satisfaction much appreciated by the newcomer, 
who smiled in a way to transform his superficially 
ugly features. “ O Keith, you good boy ! ” 

“ How are you, Peggy ? Keith had begun to 
call her Miss Le Marchand in Europe, meeting her 
as a grown young lady after some years’ absence, 
but she would not have it. It is all right ’’ — 
briefly reporting the state of things — “ your uncle 
is waiting for you outside. Why, Thomas ! What 
is the matter with Thomas ? ” 

“ Oh, Keith, what a blessing that you are here ! 
This is another wounded warrior, if you please. 
You must dress his leg for me, Keith. It is beau- 
tifully done now, and I am not going to touch it — 
not now you are here.” 


44 


THE DEVASTATORS 


45 


Certainly, Peggy/' An opportunity to dress 
the wounds of a royal highness would not have been 
more gratefully jumped at. He was ready to do 
anything, to run anywhere, at Peggy’s beck and call, 
and she accepted the fact as a matter of course. 
When will people learn the mistake of showing 
such devotion, which is bound to defeat itself? 
Lover, husband, wife, children, friends — it is all 
the same; you can not spend yourself for them 
and be rewarded with respect. Peggy was not 
one of the ingrates ; she appreciated her slave 
and his abounding services, but only as she ap- 
preciated the fidelity of a faithful dog — Thomas, 
to wit. 

As she passed through the booking office, carry- 
ing Thomas and attended by the two young men, 
Keith hastily explained all that he guessed she 
wished to know, concluding with the statement 
that he intended to stay within reach until her 
mother arrived. 

Are you not at Dorlcote ? ” she demanded, 
stopping short. 

It appeared that he was not. 

Why not?" 

He had not been asked. Mr. Gordon Le Mar- 
chand had argued with himself that William’s fam- 
ily, whatever their shortcomings, were William’s 
family, and therefore to be borne with; but that 
William’s family did not include every casual colo- 
nial person who might happen to turn up. Keith 
explained that, of course, Mr. Le Marchand had 


4 


46 


THE DEVASTATORS 


preferred his family physician, and Keith thought 
him quite right. 

“ You were allowed to do all this for us, and then 
packed off like a carrier that has brought a parcel to 
the door!” fumed Peggy. “Well, the sooner we 
get into our own house the better. And where are 
you, dear boy ? ” 

“ At the White Hart, Peggy — very comfortable 
indeed — where a message from you will find me at 
any hour of the day or night. And shall I come out 
to attend to Thomas now? Or will to-morrow 
morning do ? ” 

She decided that the morning would do, and 
bade him come early; whispered something about 
Uncle Gordon being a bear, who was not to be taken 
notice of, and nodded good-night ; whereupon the 
old friend retired from the scene, and the new friend 
escorted her to the dog-cart and the gray man await- 
ing her. 

“Just like your nasty, cold-blooded English 
ways ! ” she remarked, as soon as Keith’s back was 
turned. 

“ Don’t say my cold-blooded English ways,” Mr. 
Bedingfield pleaded, singularly anxious to leave a 
good impression of himself upon her, although she 
was a plain girl. “ Why, I drove him there and 
back, asked him to supper, found him nice rooms — 
did everything I could to make him comfortable.” 

A girl, plain or otherwise, is not made to resist 
that sort of male voice, with that kind of face be- 
hind it. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


47 


I did not mean you” Peggy hastened to as- 
sure him. “ I know you were good and kind. I 
meant Uncle Gordon, who is a perfect bear. But he 
does not know Keith yet. Though I should have 
thought he had only to look at him to like him, with 
that dear old ugly face of his. You know, perhaps, 
my uncle's fad about handsome people? No good- 
looking person can possibly be good in any other 
way, according to him. Physical beauty is the sure 
sign of moral worthlessness. He can not respect 
anybody who is not plain.” 

I thought it only applied to women,” said Mr. 
Bedingfield, who wished to believe himself in fa- 
vour at Dorlcote. 

“ Is that it? Anyhow it is a queer prejudice for 
a man who must have been very handsome himself 
in his time.” 

“ Very, I believe. And his wife was a notorious 
beauty.” 

The gray man in the tall dog-cart was hand- 
some still, to the eyes of the thoughtful and ma- 
ture. He had a spare but imposing military figure, 
and the expression of a military martinet. He al- 
most ignored Mr. Bedingfield, as the young man 
jealously and respectfully assisted a porter to pack 
Peggy's luggage and Thomas into the vehicle ; he 
greeted his niece in the briefest manner. Peggy 
was not at all discouraged. She got on well with the 
crabby creature, and he with her, although they 
acted as if the case were otherwise. She used to 
say to herself that he might be forgiven for being 


48 


THE DEVASTATORS 


crabby considering his sad history — the mysterious 
tragedy of a young marriage and divorce, which, 
long past and never spoken of, had evidently left a 
constant ingredient of bitterness in his cup of life ; 
and she walked coolly through the fence of his re- 
serve, so formidable to most people, as if it were 
invisible, like the equator. He stigmatized her as an 
ill-brought-up young woman, but, inasmuch as she 
made no claim to be a pretty girl, credited her with 
a heart more or less in the right place. Here he had 
sent for her when it was possible to do without her, 
and was driving her home himself when he might 
have employed a groom. 

“ And how is the excellent aunt ? ’’ he opened the 
conversation affably. 

How is my poor boy ? demanded Peggy. 

Your poor boy is suffering severely from the 
neglect of his head master ” 

“ What, did they neglect him ? The wretches ! 

“ To cane him adequately and betimes,” con- 
cluded Mr. Le Marchand. 

Oh ! ” said Peggy. “ That’s as may be. Is 
he hurt much ? ” 

“ Dickenson thinks not. But he considers the 
journey a mistake. I was under the impression that 
those big schools all had their own infirmaries.” 

“ A school infirmary is no place for a broken 
arm that has a family belonging to it,” said Peggy. 
“ And the journey was not a mistake if Keith Mac- 
donald allowed it. Keith will know more about it 
than your old fogy of a Dr. Dickenson.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


49 


“ There speaks raw youth ! When you are an 
old fogy, my dear, you will have more respect for 
the qualifications of age. I am not going to have 
the responsibility of Gerald sick upon my hands, 
in his parents' absence, without an authentic doc- 
tor." 

“ Is not Keith an authentic doctor ? " 

“ Not that I am aware of. And in these mat- 
ters it does not do to go by hearsay." 

Oh, you English people ! " ejaculated the girl. 
The gray man smiled, and condescended to ask, 
“ Who is the Macdonald person ? " 

Peggy catalogued the virtues of the slighted one 
in what her uncle described as her extravagant 
colonial way — the way of an impulsive young coun- 
try — which led to a retort from her that he and 
Aunt Harriet ought to have married each other, 
as they were exactly alike in their nasty little British 
prejudices against a land that was notoriously more 
enlightened than their own. 

But they did not squabble all the way. The 
evening was too beautiful, the scenes around them 
too fair and calm. Uncle Gordon had an eye upon 
the young corn sprouting on the other side of the 
hedges, and drew rein at intervals to see how much 
harrowing here and ploughing there had gone to 
the day's work just done; Peggy sat in furs, with 
Thomas in her lap under the apron, and looked at 
the peaceful fields and watched the changing sky. 
These pastoral occupations were very tranquillizing 
to the mind. 


50 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Presently Rumford came into view, sitting upon 
a gentle rise of greensward, its misty woods behind 
it. She had seen it before, but not with these pres- 
ent eyes, and never to such advantage in respect of 
light and the composition of the picture. The long 
E-shaped front (wing at each end and porch-gable 
in the middle), and all the rich detail of carved stone 
and mellow brickwork, mullioned casements filled 
with thousands of little leaded panes, spiral chim- 
ney-stacks soaring innumerable from complicated 
roofs, proclaimed the Elizabethan mansion of ro- 
mantic story. There were three hundred and sixty- 
five windows in it, Mr. Le Marchand said, and fifty- 
two rooms besides three that were hiding-holes in 
days gone by ; and there were twelve staircases, not 
including four of the newel variety, secretly con- 
trived in the thickness of the walls and masked by 
invisible doors behind arras or in oak panelling. 
Ivy covered large portions of the building; long 
untrimmed, the ragged wreaths sprawled over win- 
dows and spouted a green spray from ledges and 
corners. Some of the diamond window-panes still 
winked at the departing sun. One chimney only 
sent a thread of smoke into the still air. 

How lovely ! Peggy sighed luxuriously, as 
the vision passed ; and at once she began to enlarge 
upon her adventure with the pseudo-vivisectionist, 
and to ask questions about him. Her uncle was un- 
usually sympathetic and satisfactory in his replies. 
Moreover, he put questions himself that showed a 
particular interest in Peggy’s dear new friend. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


51 


*‘We were boys together/' said Mr. Le Mar- 
chand, “ and school-fellows. But he went to Oxford 
and I to Cambridge, and we lost touch. I saw him 
made an LL. D., and did not know him. I don’t 
think I have seen him since.” 

“ He is a dear,” said Peggy. 

We used to think him a bit of a mufif at school 
— he was no good at games — and we rather led him 
a life the first year or two ; but he beat us all at last, 
even in fighting.” 

“ Then boys did fight in your time,” Peggy re- 
minded him, on her Jerry’s behalf. 

Fighting is an ennobling exercise,” said Mr. 
Le Marchand, when it is done in a worthy cause.” 

It was not convenient to resume hostilities just 
now, so she let the hint pass. “ For what cause did 
Dr. Dallas fight ? ” she asked. “ I can not imagine 
him fighting for any cause.” 

It certainly took a long time to draw him. 
Jeers and flouts were no more to him than the wind 
blowing. But when he found two fellows ill-treat- 
ing a stray dog ” 

“ Ah ! ” interjected Peggy. 

“ One was his own brother, who had always 
despised him, and the other the biggest bully in the 
school. The surprise they got — they and all of us — 
I shall never forget.” 

“ How splendid ! How I wish I had been 
there ! ” 

Bloodthirsty female ! The bully’s nose is 
crooked to this day, and as for our Rumford squire. 


52 


THE DEVASTATORS 


his feelings as an elder brother were so hurt that he 
has never got over it.” 

“ Was that the quarrel that parted them ? ” 

‘‘ Oh, everything parted them. They were born 
antagonists. It was the merest nothing at the last — 

some trifle about bearing reins ” 

“ My dear man,” Peggy arrested him, I trust 
you don’t consider bearing reins a trifle ? ” 

“ A trifle to part brothers, my dear.” 

“ I don’t think so. A person who drives horses 
with bearing reins ought to have his own neck 
wrung,” declared Peggy, with fire in her eyes. 

Does the squire, as you call him, do that ? ” 

“ I don’t know what he does now. He has not 
been living here for many years. Bad health — can 
not stand the English climate.” 

A turn in the road showed Rumford once more, 
a dark block on a strip of lemon sky. 

And so that sweet place stands empty? Uncle, 
who will have it when the wretch that uses bearing 
reins is dead ? ” 

Mr. Le Marchand said it was possible that her 
friend would have it, if he survived his brother. The 
latter had desired a son madly, and been disap- 
pointed. He had just married a young third 
wife, so no one could tell what might yet happen ; 
but, as things stood, the eccentric Dr. Dallas was 
next heir. 

“ And I hope he will get it,” said Peggy fer- 
vently. “ I hope to goodness he will ! He won’t 
drive his horses with bearing reins.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


53 


The lights of Dorlcote twinkled through the twi- 
light haze. This, the Mecca of the family pilgrim- 
age, was but the family’s temporary home. Her 
father had been born there, a second son, and now 
he could have bought the old place ten times over, 
had it been buyable. It was not buyable, but would 
come to his own son in due course, if Gordon Le 
Marchand remained childless, as it was assumed he 
would. From her baby days the house — archseo- 
logically as interesting, in its way, as its great neigh- 
bour, Rumford — had been painted upon her imagi- 
nation as the beauty-spot and treasure shrine of 
England ; to those outside the family it was now but 
an old-world farm homestead that had seen better 
days. 

Through an open gate and a dark avenue the 
dog-cart flashed, coming out in front of a low stone 
dwelling, with dormer windows under its deep eaves. 
An old woman, with a sour, faithful face, opened 
the door, and welcomed Peggy with a satisfied 
grunt. Ah, here you are ! ” She knew the com- 
fortableness of that presence in the house. 

A word or two in the hall, a glance into the low- 
ceilinged, brown-panelled dining-room, at the warm 
fire and the table laid for two, and Peggy ran up- 
stairs to the “ spare ” chamber, where Jerry lay in 
state on a damask-curtained four-poster, fuming and 
fretting for her. He was just a common, red-headed, 
freckled schoolboy — not a straight-nosed Le Mar- 
chand, like his elder brother, Philip. 

“ My precious ! ” cried his sister. 


54 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ Old Peg ! ” whimpered the boy. 

At last his red badge of courage was treated 
with respect. His aches and his feverishness, the 
blame of which was laid by the Dareham doctor 
upon Keith, and by Peggy upon the Dareham doc- 
tor, began to subside from the moment that he could 
pour out the story of his latest battle into Peggy’s 
ear — how he had beaten a fellow nearly twice his 
weight before getting his shoulder dislocated, and 
how nobody had given him any credit for it, except 
Keith. She brought her things into the spare room 
and dressed for dinner there, and while she did her 
hair heard how Keith had turned up in the nick of 
time, and how determined he had been to carry the 
wounded hero off, because he knew it would be her 
wish. Many other confidences were exchanged, 
after which Jerry expressed himself as feeling much 
better. When Peggy went downstairs, he was drop- 
ping into a refreshing sleep. 

Without intending to let his niece know how 
pleased he was to have her back, Mr, Le Marchand 
at dinner laid himself out to entertain her. She had 
never found him so gracious and so companionable. 
But a little breeze arose when, in the course of 
friendly gossip, she mentioned Mr. Harry Beding- 
field. 

“ By the way, I have not asked you how you 
came to pick up that young man,” he said ; and his 
tone was such that Peggy retorted : “ Oh, you are 
like Aunt Harriet! Am I not to look at a young 
man ? ” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


55 

“ I beg your pardon. It is, of course, not my 
business.” 

Why, I think it is more your business than 
anybody’s. I picked him up because you had left 
him lying there, as it were, instead of asking him to 
Dorlcote to make my acquaintance.” 

“ If you think I am going to ask that sort of 
person to meet you here, you are much mistaken. 
When you make a fool of yourself, my dear, for 
the sake of a handsome face — as I have no doubt 
you will, because we all do it — I trust you will 
never be able to turn round and lay the blame 
on me.” 

“ Oh, I am sure I never shall ! I know your atti- 
tude in that matter thoroughly, Uncle dear. ‘ All 
care taken, but no responsibility.’ Quite right. Be- 
sides, I am twenty-one. Only tell me — is that all 
you have against him, that he is a handsome man? 
For he is a handsome man.” 

“ He is,” said Mr. Le Marchand, as if designat- 
ing a thief. “ And that means — However, as you 
say, you are twenty-one.” 

Only twenty-one. Uncle ! And not too proud 
to learn from my elders and betters, young as I 
am. I wish you would tell me why you dislike 
handsome people so much? Are you aware that 
you are extremely handsome yourself?” 

Mr. Le Marchand, although quite human, ap- 
peared unaffected by this just tribute. “ I could tell 
you, Peggy,” said he, grave as a judge, “ but it 
would be breath wasted. Never in this world did 


56 


THE DEVASTATORS 


a young person condescend to learn from the ex- 
perience of an old one.’’ 

“ But don’t you think it is the bounden duty of 
the old ones to give the young ones a warning, even 
if they are so ungrateful and foolish as not to profit 
by it ? ” 

“ In that case,” said he, “ I will give you a warn- 
ing here and now. Don’t you marry a handsome 
man, if you want to be happy.” 

Then Peggy remembered about the vanished 
young aunt, who, according to Mr. Bedingfield, 
had been “ a notorious beauty.” Poor old uncle ! 
It was easy for sharp young eyes to discern the sub- 
stance of the vaunted wisdom of the old. 

With all the will in the world,” said she, “ I 
may not be able to follow your advice, but at least I 
will promise you not to forget it.” And then, ma- 
ternally, “ Will you have a bit more pudding, dear ? 
I will say for Grace, that her apple puddings are the 
nicest I ever ate.” 

Keith came next morning, to look at Thomas’s 
leg. Peggy was anxious to have him look at Jerry’s 
shoulder, but the young man carefully avoided even 
a distant glimpse of Jerry’s face, despite the bawls 
of the invalid resounding down the stairs. Thomas, 
however, was carefully attended to, professional 
services being more than compensated for by a long 
interview with Peggy, and a subsequent invitation 
to luncheon. Mr. Le Marchand himself gave that 
invitation. A closer acquaintance with Keith’s 
scarred visage and ungainly frame had produced a 


THE DEVASTATORS 


57 


good effect. Colonial or otherwise, here was an- 
other who might be expected to keep a heart in 
the right place. The plain young man was naturally 
(as such) modest and considerate for others ; a little 
conversation disclosed unobtrusive brains. Mr. Le 
Marchand desired to give innocent pleasure to his 
niece and to dilate the poison of Mr. Harry Beding- 
field’s fascinations. So he asked Keith to lunch, 
and later to a smoke and a stroll. Peggy and 
Gerald, playing draughts under the canopy of the 
great four-poster, saw them in the garden together, 
and agreed that the crabby uncle was not “ half a bad 
old sort.’' 

And, the day afterward, there came from Dare- 
ham a piled-up carriage, out of which a stout woman 
rolled into Peggy’s delighted arms. She it was 
who had given the girl her red hair, her blunt 
nose, her large mouth, and from whom a waist 
of forty inches might be inherited some day ; 
therefore Uncle Gordon, who had been disposed 
to sniff at Mrs. William for various reasons, 
now regarded her also with an amiable tolera- 
tion exceeding that of William himself, who was 
by no means so particular. She, like her daughter, 
was as comfortable in the house as a plain woman 
might be expected to make herself, and, like her 
daughter, had impressed the fact upon Mr. Le Mar- 
chand by absenting herself from it. He stepped 
forth to meet her, with a “ How do, Jane? ” — never 
having called her Jane before. 

She had no pride, as has been shown, and re- 


58 


THE DEVASTATORS 


sponded gratefully. Her thanks to her brother-in- 
law for his goodness to her boy, besides causing 
him a twinge of something like remorse, disposed 
him to consider plans for making present domestic 
arrangements more permanent. 

“ Really,'' he mused over his pipe, when she had 
gone upstairs, “ they are good creatures. I don't 
think I should very much mind having them live 
here while they remain in England. I will sound 
William about it." 

But Mrs. William, with a child folded in each 
stout arm, said tragically : “ My dears, travelling 
is very nice, no doubt, and visiting is very nice — for 
them that like that sort of thing — but home is the 
place for me. I am a fish out of water without my 
home, and you children under my wing. Father will 
be here to-morrow, Peggy, and I want you to make 
him get a house of our own at once." 

“ All right. Mummy," said the girl, with a hearty 
kiss. “ I’ll make him." 


CHAPTER V 

William Le Marchand paid small heed to the 
suggestions of his good wife, whom nevertheless he 
honoured to a certain extent, and did his duty by, as 
became a gentleman, but Peggy’s influence over 
him was great. An only daughter can generally 
wind her father round her little finger, and what his 
daughter might have done had she taken after her 
paternal ancestors in looks — for they were a hand- 
some family — no one can say. Disappointingly 
lacking as she was in features to match her name, 
she was still “ my girl ” to a partial parent, his com- 
fidential friend and favourite. Peggy’s sense was 
his boast, and, such as it was, Peggy used it fairly, 
for the good of her household generally and never 
for her individual advantage. This unusual disposi- 
tion on the part of a favourite, and the more unusual 
disposition of her mother to peaceably acquiesce in 
her own dethronement and make the best of it, in- 
stead of being wild with jealousy, as nineteen out 
of twenty mothers would be, clamorous for her 
rights and vindictive if she could not get them, made 
the situation quite comfortable, apparently, for all 
parties. 


59 


6o 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Mrs. William, having no pride, asked Peggy to 
make her father get a house, and Peggy undertook 
the task in the full knowledge that she could do it, al- 
though her mother could not, and undertook it for 
the mother’s^ sake and pleasure, and not for her own. 
Others might make light of the unselfish woman ; 
her daughter, inheriting her humble virtues, was 
stanchly loyal. 

Surly William came home — not quite as soon 
as he was expected, for he liked his liberty at times 
— and sat down at Dorlcote to continue his stand- 
ing quarrel with his brother over the respective 
merits and demerits of Australian and English 
methods of husbandry. He brought a labour-sav- 
ing agricultural machine as a present to Gordon, 
and Gordon would not use it. The friendly dispute 
which had been salt to the lives of both, and particu- 
larly the holiday maker, whose holiday had grown 
irksome to him, began to taste a little bitter owing 
to this circumstance ; and Peggy’s diplomatic over- 
tures were accepted as opportune. 

“ Well, I agree with you. Peg. I think we have 
been long enough with this hide-bound antedilu- 
vian ; I shall get my temper spoiled if I don’t have 
a change. Let us take a house, by all means — if you 
think you can manage to persuade your mother 
to it.” 

‘‘ Oh, I think I can persuade her,” said Peggy. 

Uncle Gordon was deeply hurt, but carefully 
concealed the fact. He informed William that there 
was a house to let, furnished, in Dareham. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


6l 


“ Is there ? said William, fancying that Dorl- 
cote was in haste to be rid of him and his. “ I’ll go 
and look at it at once.” 

While the mother stayed at home to nurse her 
boy, her husband and daughter took the dog-cart 
to Dareham. They went for the day, and a great 
day they had. The weather being still fine, they 
made an exploring expedition on foot all over the 
little town — the bright, wholesome girl, smart in 
her London gown, and the stalwart father, happily 
garrulous about the young days of which so many 
things reminded him. Peggy was shown the scenes 
of all sorts of adventures of which she had never 
heard before. They climbed a paved lane to the 
church at the top of the town, and went in to see 
monuments of ancestors, intensely interesting. 
They descended to the market-place, where the 
Corn Exchange showed her family name behind 
a stand, and where her father conjured up pageants 
of history — great fairs and election demonstrations, 
the banquet of Peace after the war with Russia, the 
feast to the poor on the Prince of Wales’s wedding 
day, the public singing of the Dettingen Te Deum 
On the latter’s recovery from his great illness. 

They lunched at the old White Hart, in the very 
room from which the father had viewed these stir- 
ring spectacles. It was called the Fox, because once 
a hunted fox, chased through Wareham .streets, had 
taken sanctuary there beneath a sofa — a little tale 
that dimmed the brightness of Peggy’s eyes a little. 
She was never quite happy anywhere or at any time, 


5 


62 


THE DEVASTATORS 


because of this trouble always cropping up — ^the 
trouble of friendless creatures that had to run and 
hide from human persecution. The mask of that 
very fox, murdered in that very corner, stared at her 
from the wall above the table, and she met its glass 
eyes with a look of pity such as had never been shed 
on them before. Even foxes had their moral rights, 
in common with all their dumb kindred, would have 
civil and legal ones when the golden age arrived. 

But the White Hart was a delightful inn. It had 
an archway, just under the Fox room window, 
through which one drove to the stables at the back, 
or walked to the warm red-curtained bar, modestly 
situated behind it. Keith Macdonald was not at the 
White Hart now ; being no longer wanted, he had 
quietly returned to his work; but Peggy did not 
miss him — would, indeed, have found him super- 
fluous on this occasion, when she was so much en- 
joying her father’s company. The pair, arriving 
hungry and happy, had a personal welcome from 
landlord and landlady, and the best of fare was set 
before them. And when they had sated appetite 
with the juicy beef and sparkling beer and sweet 
bread and butter, they set out to inspect the house 
that had been offered to them. The venders could 
not have done business under circumstances more 
favourable to themselves. 

They were impoverished maiden ladies who pro- 
posed to profit, if possible, by these rich Australians, 
and they did not appear; old Mr. Bedingfield was 
their representative. Young Mr. Bedingfield 


THE DEVASTATORS 


63 

joined the party of three, and made it four, when 
naturally it resolved itself into two pairs. While Mr. 
Le Marchand and the elder lawyer inspected drains 
and stables, Peggy rested in a sad-coloured parlour, 
much at home with Mr. Harry, who padded her 
back with a cushion, placed a hassock under her 
feet, and finally made her a cup of tea. He had 
none of poor Keith’s shy awkwardness in handling 
the cracked china and the fine old silver pot — Keith 
was effective enough in serious matters, but a blun- 
derer in small things — and the ready tongue that 
sweetened the repast was lacking to the older 
friend. 

It would feel very funny,” said she, looking 
out of the tall, narrow, deeply recessed windows, 
which were fitted like Aunt Harriet’s with burglar- 
proof folding shutters, “ to live right upon a street 
pavement.” 

But there is such a nice garden at the back,” 
urged Mr. Harry ; “ at least, it will be nice when it 
is done up. And the walls are so high that nobody 
can overlook you.” 

'' And I simply,” said Peggy, ‘‘ could not stand 
this furniture. It would give me the dismals in 
winter time.” 

"‘You could furbish it up, couldn’t you?” 

“ We should have to, of course.” She glanced 
over the edge of her teacup at the curly-legged 
rosewood suit, upholstered in striped satin, and de- 
ployed upon a pale and threadbare carpet; and she 
wondered if her father’s well-lined pockets would 


64 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Open to the extent necessary for making the room 
habitable. “ What this furniture wants/' said she, 
“ is a great, big attic under the roof." 

“ There is one," the young man hastened to in- 
form her. 

“ You told me the other day," she then re- 
marked, “ that Dareham was a hole. A something 
hole." 

“ I must have said ‘ hill,' and you misunderstood 
me. It is ever so many feet above the sea, and vis- 
ible for miles around; the healthiest, dryest, best- 
drained little town I know anywhere." 

“ ‘ Full of fossils,' you said. ' Not a live person 
in it.' " 

“ That was before you cariie." 

“ I have not come." 

But you are coming. And that will make all 
the difference in the world. Dareham won't be dull 
then." 

“ One would think I was a rowdy, dashing sort 
of person." 

“ You know I don't mean that. You know what 
I mean." 

You imagine that I am intellectually brilliant, 
perhaps? I assure you, you never made a greater 
mistake. It is not in me to put a shine upon dull 
people. I aspire to live in a place bright enough to 
put a shine upon me. That is what I came to Eng- 
land for. It will make no difference to Dareham, 
my being there." 

“ It will make a vast difference to some people." 


THE DEVASTATORS 


65 


“ To whom? ” 

Well— to me.” 

“ Mr. Bedingfield,” she admonished him, “ I 
don’t like empty compliments and nonsense.” But 
she glanced at his straight-featured face, the eyes 
that had their young-man meaning in them, and felt 
a flutter at the heart. With the exception of Keith’s 
dumb homage — of no account — she had not hither- 
to smelt this kind of incense. 

“ I was under the impression that I was talking 
very sober sense,” said he ; “ but if you think hot, I 
will try again. Miss Le Marchand, you are ruining 
a pair of exceptionally good boots by roasting the 
toes of them.” 

She drew in her feet hastily, and her blush deep- 
ened. Never you mind my boots,” she laughed. 
“ Give me another lump of sugar, please.” 

Take the basinful,” he urged, thrusting a 
lovely bit of antique silver toward her. “ Take 
everything — only do have this house and stay 
among us ! ” 

The insincerity of incipient love-makers was al- 
ready corrupting her simple soul. ‘‘ It hardly rests 
with me,” she demurely informed him. “ My 
mother will have to see it and decide.” 

She had hardly referred the question to her 
mother when her father entered the room, and called 
out : “ Well, Peg, what do you say ? ” On the spur 
of the moment, without pausing to think of mothers 
or anybody, she replied : “ Oh, I think it will do, 
father.” And that settled it. 


66 


THE DEVASTATORS 


It looks pretty starved/’ Mr. Le Marchand re- 
marked on the way home, “ but the foundations are 
good. I can give you a few hundreds to smarten up 
with. Buy things that we can take home with us 
afterward.” 

“ Rugs — hangings — chintz covers — a dozen or 
two of chairs and sofas — a few hundred pounds’ 
worth of palms — I see ! ” cried Peggy. There is 
a little greenhouse that we can fill, and that bare, 
cold hall has a fireplace to it. Father, I don’t think 
I ever saw a house with so many possibilities.” 

“ I have taken it for a year, to begin with — sub- 
ject, of course, to your mother’s approval.” 

‘‘ She will approve fast enough when she sees it.” 

Mrs. Le Marchand approved without seeing it. 
And, Jerry doing well, she was dragged up to Lon- 
don immediately, to spend a few hundreds that were 
but an unconsidered trifle in those days. A month 
later, the landladies were rusticating economically 
at the seaside, and the tenants settling down to 
housekeeping in their sober mansion, which re- 
tained its soberness on its street face only. “ Vul- 
gar ostentation,” some of the old townsfolk said, 
when they saw the transformed interior ; but it was 
not that — the arrangements were too sincerely com- 
fortable. Smells of money,” Uncle Gordon com- 
mented, with a wrinkling of his fastidious nose ; and 
that sneer did hurt Peggy’s feelings. ‘‘ Is the smell 
so vile ? ” she asked him. ‘‘ The vilest,” he rejoined ; 
“ I loathe it.” She knew that, although he was a 
poor man, it was no case of sour grapes with him. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


67 

Afterward, when revisiting Dorlcote, austerely fru- 
gal, antique, and individual, she felt something of 
the truth which social developments continually 
make plainer and plainer — that personal wealth and 
true gentility have no natural affinity, to say the 
least — no more than the juice-sucking parasite and 
the degenerating tree. 

However, the house was charming, if it did smell 
of money. The cold hall was warm, the early Vic- 
torian eyesores were replaced with artistic things ; 
you could sit always in a chair that rested a tired 
back, or lie upon a sofa outstretched at utmost 
length ; and you were sure of meals that would not 
give you indigestion, and secure from damps and 
draughts calculated to shorten your valuable life. A 
brougham stood in the coach-house — meet for an 
inclement climate — and a cart to take Peggy to see 
her poor uncle frequently. Mrs. Le Marchand, 
after her wanderings, was content once more, en- 
joying well-earned ease; Mr. Le Marchand de- 
lighted to have his own table and smoking-room 
to invite his friends to, and something to do, if it 
were only to pull weeds from his own flower beds. 
Peggy, receiving a nice young man under all the 
appropriate conditions, had never been happier in 
the whole course of her life. The millennium will 
have to come, it seems, before we cease to glory in 
the shame of a full purse. 

Dareham, with the surrounding country, con- 
doned the vulgarity very easily. Good-will was ex- 
pressed in well-considered hospitalities — dinners and 


68 


THE DEVASTATORS 


garden parties in the summer, dinners and dances 
as the cooler weather came on — and every neigh- 
bourly compliment was abundantly returned. Aunt 
Harriet was an early guest, and dutifully made much 
of. She found nothing to compare with Woodlands, 
but, short of that standard, her sister’s house and 
surroundings were graciously approved of. Daily 
she sat in the new brougham, elate and consequen- 
tial ; nightly she spent hours getting herself up in 
evening dress, trying this and that ornament and 
style of hair ; and Peggy saw to it that she was not 
left out in the cold when visits, of ceremony or im- 
portant entertainments were on hand. Miss Hed- 
way wrote long descriptions of these to her friends, 
and described herself as feeling in her proper ele- 
ment. 

“ That woman,” William said to Jane, in the 
marital tone that was too common with him, “ means 
to stick here forever apparently.” 

But she did not do that. Though her silver was 
in the bank and most of her furniture under lock 
and key, she got suddenly suspicious of the honesty 
of the caretaker left at home, and departed thither, 
having spent a month at Dareham, the most inter- 
esting of her life. 

“ Hah ! ” said the ex-host, coming in to find her 
gone. He spread his chest and beamed at Peggy, 
who reproved him with a frown. 

Then it was the turn of the boys. “ May we have 
Tom, Dick, and Harry to spend the holidays with 
us ? ” they wrote to their mother. “ Of course you 


THE DEVASTATORS 


69 


may, my dears,’’ she answered at once. And the 
troop of them came, and were coddled, and allowed 
pillow fights and booby traps and blindman’s-buff 
parties all among the new furniture; with fishing- 
rods and ponies and picnic baskets out of doors, 
and “ prog ” to take back with them sufficient to 
feed the school. Here was home, on which no 
crusty uncle could cast the wet blanket, and where 
no Grace could look daggers at dirty finger-marks 
and the tracks of muddy boots. The master of the 
house was in eruption at intervals, but the violence 
of these outbreaks soon passed under Peggy’s sooth- 
ing influence — her reasonable contention that boys 
would be boys, and that we could only be young 
once, and that in any case we didn’t mean it. 

The walled garden, with its new tennis court, 
and its adjunct of free-and-easy rooms that were all 
lived in, becamfe a meeting place for friends, a sort 
of exchange for the transaction of the town’s social 
business, a centre of its upper social life. The young 
people gathered there on the fine afternoons to flirt 
and play, and Peggy on the lawn — with gallons of 
tea, and bowls and flagons, big enough for bedroom 
washstands, of iced cup and shandygaff— flitted 
among them, an argus-eyed hostess; and there 
was no lack of young men, besides Harry Beding- 
field, to flit after her. She was not pretty, but her 
sweet temper and friendliness to all were charms of 
constant potency, and the person of an heiress al- 
ways walks about with a sort of lime-light glamour 
over it. Mrs. Le Marchand would sit and beam on 


70 


THE DEVASTATORS 


all, quite happy, dear soul, if those around her were 
enjoying themselves. So that the new family, whose 
recommendation was that it was an authenticated 
old family, did really lighten the dulness of the little 
town, according to young Mr. Bedingfield’s pre- 
diction. 


CHAPTER VI 


But no combination of fortunate circumstances 
can satisfy all parties. 

Uncle Gordon, under the belief that Dorlcote 
had proved too humble a dwelling for William and 
his family, sulked apart from them, and felt the soli- 
tude of his life much more acutely than he had done 
before their arrival. In vain Peggy drove out in 
her little cart two or three times a week to see him, 
and asked herself to lunch ; she could not get him to 
make return visits, although, being his own steward, 
he was frequently in Dareham on business. On 
market mornings, when the farmers’ vehicles began 
to rattle by, she would watch from a front window 
for his dog-cart, prepared to signal him as he passed ; 
but he always sat bolt upright, and carefully re- 
frained from turning his head. After one formal 
call on his sister-in-law, when he made that com- 
plaint to Peggy about the smell of money, he was 
too busy for a month or two to call any more. 

Brother William, fuming over the cantanker- 
ousness of the ill-tempered man, was himself no 
angel of amiability at this time. His little jobs of 
garden work, and so on, did not give sufficient em- 

71 


72 


THE DEVASTATORS 


ployment to one so long accustomed to an active 
life, and there was no sport going on which he 
could expend his energies. The worn-out holiday 
fretted him again, and worse than before. Peace 
^nd prosperity are good things to fight for, but it 
is the fight itself that is really interesting. He de- 
teriorated generally for want of use, and fell into 
a chronic mood of discontent — a mood in which, 
for want of any genuine grievance in the world, 
he occupied himself with spurious ones, to pass 
the time. 

One day, on his ride, he passed by Dorlcote 
fields — they were always enticing — and saw the new 
cutter working. This was the machine he had 
given to his brother, intending it as a delicate sort 
of acknowledgment of hospitality, and which his 
brother had hated the sight of, not more on account 
of its “ new-fangled ’’ character than because it was 
a present. The burly gentleman drew rein, and 
waited for Gordon, who was superintending the ex- 
periment, to come and speak to him. 

Hullo! Fine day for that job. How do you 
find it work ? ” 

No good at all when the grass is thick or flat- 
tened by the rain. Leaves half the stuff upon the 
ground.” 

But the mutual olive-branch was manifest. The 
price of oxen and lambs was discussed, kind inqui- 
ries were made as to the health of the Dareham 
household, and William gravitated to his old home 
and had a tankard of beer. There he informed his 


THE DEVASTATORS 


73 


brother that Miss Hedway was still his guest, and 
that he simply “ could not stand that woman.” The 
poor lady was his excuse for going abroad in search 
of peace and quiet, but when the time came that 
he could thank God she was out of his house, he 
continued to absent himself from it as before. Gor- 
don saw that he blamed Jane for being sister to that 
sister. He had the air of lumping Hedways to- 
gether, as a clan apart from himself and Gordon 
and their kind. He conveyed to his brother word- 
less hints of conjugal trials, voids in life that left him 
isolated in his family circle and poor in the midst 
of his apparent wealth. It really meant nothing 
more than that Jane was too fat, lacking in social 
knowledge and correct manners, and a fool over her 
children — that, and a lack of wholesome occupation 
for his own idle mind; but tragical things were 
pointed at. 

Gordon listened and pondered, and when Wil- 
liam seemed to be getting too explicit, endeavoured 
to change the subject. With perfect equanimity 
he could hear Miss Hedway maligned, but Jane was 
another matter. However, as time passed, and par- 
ticularly when, haysel and harvest being early ended, 
they went a-cruising on the Broads, and lived alone 
together for days and nights on end, those scruples 
which keep gentlemen reticent upon certain sub- 
jects melted insensibly. In such intimacy, and amid 
such utter solitudes as the Broads were then, the 
primitive man crept out. 

^There was one beautiful September night, as 

r 


74 


THE DEVASTATORS 


mild as June. It was that misty hour betwixt light 
and dark when a shining mere becomes like a 
fogged mirror, and all above and around it vague 
and eerie and mysterious, to those who are in the 
mood to feel romantic. William was that way. A 
certain Dareham lady, renewing a youthful acquaint- 
ance with him, had so emphasized by contrast the 
lack of attractions in Jane as to greatly deepen his 
sense of the pathos of life in general, and of his own 
life in particular. Gordon, too, was touched with an 
unwonted melancholy, caused by memories of the 
Broads in a former day, when his marriage was in 
the stage of honeymoon, its potential tragedy un- 
dreamed of. He sat on a bank, lifting his thin, gray- 
mustached, sombre face to the caress of the gentle 
air. William sat beside him. The twilight smelt 
sweet, even the weeds having a special evening fra- 
grance, but it was also damp ; and to linger in it for 
hours, as they did, was an unwise proceeding on the 
part of gentlemen come to their time of life. But 
they totally forgot their time of life. 

Gordon sat silent with his inward thoughts. 
William, between puffs of his pipe, uttered his in 
fragments from time to time, not having the habits 
of the social hermit. And he spoke of that upon 
which his thoughts (for want of something better 
to occupy them) were running — Mrs. Pattison, once 
his playmate, Molly Barnes. 

“ I never, ’’ said he, “ saw a gawky child grow 
into such a handsome woman.” 

The last objectionable adjective, tacked to its 


THE DEVASTATORS 


75 

most objectionable noun, had a sound in Gordon's 
ears like the sound of “ cat " in Thomas’s. 

“ If ever I marry again,” said he, irefully, “ which 
I never mean to do, my wife shall be as plain as a 
broom handle. She shall have no temptation to 
run after fools and flatterers, and into every kind 
of excitement and folly. A wholesome, calm-tem- 
pered, motherly, sensible creature, whose house is 
her kingdom, and whose husband and children are 
her world. Some one like Jane” 

Brother William mused at too great a distance to 
catch this hint. 

“ Why,” he sighed, can’t we have the domes- 
tic virtues and the other charms — something to in- 
terest and inspire a man — as well? I mean — well, 
personal beauty, and all that kind of thing.” 

“ You can not have personal beauty, and the do- 
mestic virtues, both” said Gordon. “ In the nature 
of things they can never go together.” He was on 
the back of his hobby. “ No, my dear fellow — no ! 
The view of mediaeval Christendom is the right one. 
A fair woman is simply a curse to every man she 
comes across.” 

“ Mediaeval Christendom was thinking of some- 
thing that does not apply in these days. Their idea 
of being cursed was too silly for anything.” 

“ They had hold of the right end of the string, 
though. They knew the relative potency of that 
danger and our arms of defence against it. And 
we are the same now that we were then.” He did 
not say to William, “ You are proving it,” but per- 


76 


THE DEVASTATORS 


ceived the face, with a pensive thought of Jane, so 
humbly faithful. 

“ It’s nature,” said William. “ And I am not 
afraid of nature, if you are. I would be game to 
chance it, if I had my time over again.” 

Well, it was not the occasion for arguing about 
these things. Gordon struck a match on his boot- 
sole, lit a cigar, leaned back on the shallow slope, 
and stretched his legs out on the grass. They puffed 
a while in meditative silence, waistcoats unbuttoned, 
straw hats pushed to the back of their heads; and 
the peace and freedom of the lovely night possessed 
them more and more. The twilight mists were 
clearing off, and the edge of a yellow moon be- 
ginning to peep above the reeds. The stillness 
was so profound that they could hear a fish roll- 
ing over in the water, and the strange bark of an 
otter that was foraging for his supper half a mile 
away. 

‘‘ I don’t think,” said Gordon presently, in a low 
voice, “ that you ever saw my Eleanor ? ” 

It was his first mention of her to anybody, since 
the separation so long ago. 

“ No,” said William, in the same soft way, “ I 
don’t think I ever did.” 

“ That is all I have against her. She was too 
beautiful — ‘too much admired and sought after — to 
content herself with a humdrum life, and me.” 

“ Was that all?” queried William, gently. 

“ Absolutely all. And, as she couldn’t help that, 
she was not to blame.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


77 


But didn’t she ” 

“ No. I did. You must never believe it was 
she. She had no badness in her, except her beauty. 
She went away with her mother — another hand- 
some woman, by the way, and so another baneful 
influence. It was only for a visit, but she stopped 
away a year — a year before I did what made it im- 
possible for her to come back again. I don’t ex- 
cuse myself, except that it is the deuce and all to go 
back to bachelor life at a day’s notice; and it did 
seem to me an insufferable thing to be flung aside 
for nothing at all — ^just because I didn’t like to see 
her everlastingly surrounded by a pack of fellows 
trying to turn her head. But I was odiously unrea- 
sonable — I see it now. Such a pretty woman should 
not have been expected to stop at home and devote 
herself to one ordinary man. You should not marry 
a pretty woman if you want to have a home. You 
may thank Heaven for your Jane. But people 
never do know when they are well off.” 

Jane,” said William a little stiffly, “ was by no 
means bad-looking when she was young.” 

Of course not — no more than she is now. Her 
face grows on one. I think it sweeter every time 
I see her. And her daughter is going to be just such 
another.” 

“ Oh, I hope not ! ” the father inwardly ejacu- 
lated. He put Jane aside, however, keeping Eleanor 
the romantic in the place to which Gordon had 
brought her. It was a chance to see her face, figura- 
tively, that he might never get again. 

6 


78 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ So it was you that were divorced, not she ! I 
often wondered.” 

“ You wouldn’t have wondered if you had 
known her. Proud as Lucifer, with all her faults. 
It was not till I got into that scrape with Caroline 
— dashed idiot that I was ! ” 

“ When a woman clears out and leaves her hus- 
band alone for a year, what can she expect? I’ll 
tell you what it is, Gordon — the whole system is 
rotten. Men are judged as if they were effigies of 
men — yes, and by men too, who know all about it. 
The essence of respectability consists in a denial of 
the mandates of nature — making a dead letter of 
them.” 

He would have declaimed at length upon the 
wrongs of his sex (tied to homely Janes, and for- 
bidden to enjoy the poetic Mrs. Pattisons of a pro- 
saic world), but again the influences of the hour 
restrained him. The moon was rising and shining 
clear, so that he could see the folded water-lilies 
and the yellow iris clumps against the pale water and 
the dark reeds. The night was full of mysterious 
whispering sounds, and yet so still that he could 
hear the fishes swimming about. Every minute 
seemed to make it more beautiful. 

If nobody knows anything, it don’t matter,” 
continued Gordon, with awful cynicism, but speak- 
ing dreamily, as if thinking aloud. “ But I had to 
consider Caroline when her family made a fuss; I 
was not going to let her bear the brunt of it. And 
so the thing came out. Nelly was down in Florence 


THE DEVASTATORS 


79 


with her mother, but of course it was no time be- 
fore she heard. Then it was all up. That settled 
it. She took the line that I had debased myself to 
the lowest depths of infamy, and was not fit to so 
much as look at a decent woman again — would not 
see the remotest shadow of an excuse for me — and 
went for a divorce headlong.” 

“ Women all over,” commented William. 

“ I expected nothing less. And I don’t object 
the women taking that line, although it is so deuced- 
ly unfair. I did not wish her to condone such things. 
And I might have had more sense than to entangle 
myself the way I did. I did not blame Nelly — I 
don’t now — for anything except being a beauty. 
She was barely twenty then, and the loveliest — how- 
ever, that’s neither here nor there. I made no de- 
fence when she brought the action for divorce — she 
had a right to do it — and I worked my hardest and 
spent I don’t know what to keep the affair out of the 
papers and make as little scandal as could be helped. 
She may thank me for that — though she had friends 
at court, no doubt, just as anxious to spare her. So 
there were no details, and very little notice taken. 
That puzzled you, didn’t it? We got through so 
quickly and quietly that a lot of people never knew 
we had been divorced at all. I did not realize it 
myself till it was all over, and Norman Crawford — 
my God ! ” — awakening from his dreaminess for a 
moment — “ to think I had given up my right to 
wring that fellow’s neck ! That was a thing I had 
never anticipated. Well, well ” — relapsing into his 


8o 


THE DEVASTATORS 


lazy mood — ‘‘ he can easily make her a better hus- 
band than I did/' 

“ I thought she went off with Norman Crawford 
—first? " 

Beg her pardon for such an unmerited insult. 
Of course she was no sooner free than he was after 
her like a shot, and a score of other fellows ; but she 
had nothing to say to him — I am sure she had not — 
till she took him to marry him. She married him a 
few weeks after the divorce — a stupid thing to do, 
and of course misunderstood by everybody — even 
by me, who knew her. But I understand better 
now. She did it out of pure spite and pride, and be- 
cause I had left her without a protector." 

He sat up, roused thoroughly. 

And where are they now? " inquired William, 
anxious for more. 

Oh, God knows ! " Gordon turned a white 
watch face to the moon. He had closed the door 
upon his skeleton. “ 'Pon my word," he laughed 
shamefacedly, I believe it is worse to be young 
than it is to be beautiful. Thank Heaven, there is 
a cure for both complaints. It is all over now." 

“ I don’t believe," urged William warmly, “ that 
it is ever all over. We are always young — in some 
things." 

“ It is a mistake," the other philosophized. 
“ Unseasonable weather, whatever it may be, is not 
healthy. I don’t know how you feel, but I feel that 
it is getting about time for bed." 

They got into an infinitesimal jolly-boat, and 


THE DEVASTATORS 


8l 


gently paddled to their yacht, brushing through a 
wall of feathered reeds and beds of sleeping water- 
lilies. They lit their lamp, and hooked up their ham- 
mocks, and drank whisky and water to keep the 
damp out, and retired into their blankets ; and night 
brooded upon the scene. William, for all his senti- 
mental discontents, slept like a healthy child ; Gor- 
don lay and listened to the talk of the little breezes, 
the ripple, the rustle, the tap of the rope, the creak 
of spar, awake till morning. 


CHAPTER VII 


It rained hopelessly, English fashion, but never- 
theless Peggy proposed to go to church. Good 
daughter as she was, she laughed to scorn an anx- 
ious mother’s misgivings. 

“ Colds ? ” scoffed she. ‘‘ Do I ever catch colds ? 
Besides, the best way to prevent colds is to make a 
habit of going out in all weathers. I don’t believe 
in coddling.” 

But I can not have you sitting steaming in 
damp clothes.” 

“ Now, look here — could anybody get damp 
through this mackintosh and those boots?” dis- 
playing the articles, which were of the best. “ But, 
of course, dear, if you really don’t want me to go, I 
won’t.” 

Never could Mrs. Le Marchand bear to disap- 
point a child; so she said she did not mind Peggy 
going, if only risks to her precious health were 
guarded against. Would she promise to put her 
wet cloak and umbrella where they would not touch 
her in church? Peggy swore that she would, 
kissed her parent on both cheeks, and light-hearted- 
ly set forth. The servants had preceded her, or were 
82 


THE DEVASTATORS 


83 


visiting their friends; her father was far away, 
cooped in a little inn isolated in the waste of marsh 
and water that had been so heavenly fair a few 
nights ago; the boys were at school, Jerry being 
in fighting trim once more. So that she went to 
church alone. It was because she knew she could 
go alone that she wanted to go so badly. 

There had been no appointment, of course — not 
the faintest suggestion of such a thing — but there 
stood Harry Bedingfield in the porch, as she came 
up to it, just as if he had been waiting for her. Both 
assumed an air of astonishment at seeing one an- 
other under the circumstances; each thought it 
necessary to explain away the appearance of zeal. 
Having done so, the young man took the girl’s 
streaming umbrella and carefully twirled and shook 
it over the doorsteps; then peeled her glistening 
overcoat from her shapely figure, clad in a London 
gown that gave it marked distinction. 

“ You must be awfully wet, aren’t you ? ” he said, 
solicitously scanning her; and he fetched out his 
handkerchief to wipe imaginary rain spots from 
skirt and sleeve. 

Why, you are as bad as mother,” laughed she, 
drawing from him. “ I am all right. It is you that 
will be wet through, if you carry my cloak in that 
style. Turn it inside out — here, this way.” 

He fumbled slowly, following her directions 
with the utmost stupidity. Wild as the night was, 
the devout of the congregation continued to stream 
in from it, blown and splashed, to readjust them- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


84 

selves in the porch, and pass on. Some nodded to 
Peggy, some to the young lawyer, some to both; 
a few glanced from one to the other, and smiled 
subtly. 

Oh, do make haste ! ” said Peggy, with a little 
stamp of her thick-soled boot. We are frightfully 
late. Why, they have got to the absolution.’’ 

Then they went in, she first, holding herself rath- 
er stiffly, and exhibiting a tint of complexion in 
pleasant contrast with the background ; he after her, 
with her mackintosh on his arm, her umbrella clasped 
with his. Midway of the central aisle she turned 
into her family pew ; it was empty — as also was his, 
behind it. She had told him of her mother’s injunc- 
tion about putting the wet things where they would 
not touch her, so, with an informing glance at her, 
he laid them, much spread out, on the Bedingfield 
cushions. He then, with a lift of eyebrows — 
which she answered with a smile and a bite of the 
lip — slid into her seat. 

Its whole length was between them, she in her 
mother’s corner, he in her father’s at the outer end, 
when they sank upon their respective hassocks to 
perform the opening rite. They were equally apart 
during the psalms, he holding his lilliputian prayer- 
book at his chin, she studying hers as if every word 
was new to her. They knelt again in the same de- 
tached position. But when hymn time came. Fate 
seemed to reach out a finger to move them, as it 
were two pieces on a chess-board, for the further- 
ance of the immortal game. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


85 

In a fit of abstraction (while thinking of things 
he ought not to have thought of), Mr. Le Marchand 
must have pocketed the key of the box which held 
the service-books of the family — all except Peggy’s 
own prayer-book, left out in the morning. The box, 
placed at his end of the pew, just under the book 
ledge, was the institution of their careful landladies, 
and the tenants used it just because it was there, 
with no thought of safeguarding their property from 
anything but dust. When hymn time came then, 
and the necessity for hymn-books, Peggy, cut off 
from the box, directed the attention of her pew- 
mate toward it, it being directly above his knee. 
He nodded, tried to open the thing, continued try- 
ing until it was time to stand up, and conveyed to 
her by signs that it was impregnable. She crept up 
to try herself, looked her surprise and annoyance, 
signalled Never mind,” and returned to her corner. 
Ere she reached it, he had dived into his own pew, 
and fished up the required volume. There were 
several there, but he only produced one. 

He brought it to her. She took half of it by the 
extreme corner, and they stood together, rigid, face 
turned to face. Not an eye was raised from the page 
between them, but they saw everything down to 
each stitch of the mend in her glove finger, each 
wrinkle of a damaged thumb nail that he had so 
much regretted not having covered with tan dog- 
skin. Their eternal destiny was not of such impor- 
tance to them as the fact that he had left his gloves 
at home, and that she, with mistaken economy, had 


86 


THE DEVASTATORS 


selected an old pair for the occasion, as being good 
enough to be made pulp of by the rain. 

But the music insensibly lured them from their 
regrets. Harry Bedingfield had a vocal organ that 
he was rather proud of, and he began to sing, so 
that she might hear it ; therefore the girl also took 
courage and raised a bird-like note or two. Pres- 
ently their voices poured forth, interblended, in a 
full stream: 

“ ‘ O Paradise! O Paradise! 

Who doth not crave for rest? 

Who would not seek the happy land 
Where they that loved are blest?’ ” 

There was an irresistible lilt and swing about 
the tune, something sensuous and impassioned, that 
put a soaring thrill into Peggy’s voice, and sent 
Harry’s heart up like a balloon to keep it company. 
The words suggested the thought to Peggy, “ Oh, 
if all prayers were answered, where would we be ? ” 
She had a whimsical idea of the dread recruiting 
sergeant meeting the congregation as it came out, 
and shouting: ‘‘Now then, who is for the Happy 
Land ? ” and wondered how many would volunteer. 
Not Peggy Le Marchand for one ; she could answer 
for that. Nor, as she believed, any other of that 
company, however old and poor. 

“ ‘ O Paradise! O Paradise! 

’Tis weary waiting here! 

We long to be where Jesus is ’ ” 

Ah, what insincerities these be! Let the sing- 
ers only be taken at their word, and imagine the 


THE DEVASTATORS 


87 

hullabaloo ensuing! What weeping and wailing, 
and crape veils and hat-bands, and Dead Marches in 
Saul, and condoling paragraphs in the shocked 
newspapers ! And what revilings for him, her, them, 
or it, the “ humble instrument of such visitation 1 
However, we make these invocations with a full 
knowledge of the facts. And, furthermore, words 
have just the meanings that we put into them — 
meanings which become a blend of infinite complex- 
ity when the emotions played upon by musical har- 
monies are astir. Peggy smiled, but at the same 
time her heart was wondrously uplifted; and from 
end to end of the building scores of other hearts 
and lips were swelling the song of devout and sin- 
cere desire. But its inspiration was inexpressible. 
“ Paradise ” stood for it, in a general way, but 
life would have been a better word. It was 
life that beckoned them through the eloquent air 
— the higher life, but still the life that now is, the 
heaven of this world, the “ rigged and bitter busi- 
ness where our heart lies.” O Paradise ! O 
Paradise ! Oh, for the power to bear all nobly the 
rest of victorious achievement 1 Oh, for the wings 
of the soul unfolded and soaring in those realms of 
beauty of which it dreams, of which these voices 
tell I Oh, to be loved, and to find my mate 1 ’Tis 
weary waiting here — until he comes, until she smiles 
upon me! 

Ah-h-men!” 

The gate of heaven swung slowly to again, but 
it did not shut quite. Rustling like a wheat-field 


88 


THE DEVASTATORS 


in the wind, the congregation seated itself — Harry 
Bedingfield just where he stood. The eloquent air 
grew chill with perfunctory mumblings, and colder 
still with a second hymn, of which the words were 
reasonable and the tune ugly, and dead altogether 
under the effect of a sermon that had no vital mean- 
ing in it. But Peggy knelt, stood, sat, in a delicious 
dream that made its own atmosphere, a dream that 
was none the worse because as yet it had no fea- 
tures to it. Harry Bedingfield, touched also by the 
mystic thing that had passed over them, sat with 
folded arms, staring at space, acutely conscious of 
being a young man, and having a girl beside him. 

Out pealed the organ in a crashing march, those 
triumphant strains which always seem to say, at the 
end of service : Thank goodness, that is over ! ” 
and Peggy slipped back into her corner and glanced 
at her pew-mate. He remained on his knees, ab- 
sorbed in his religious exercises, for several minutes 
more, and, while she watched him expectantly, she 
could not, of course, disturb him. When half the 
people were out of church, he began to dust the 
knees of his trousers; apparently they were very 
dusty. Then he hunted for his hat and laboriously 
brushed the brim with his handkerchief ; then he 
slowly rose and slowly put the hymn-book back, 
and still more slowly picked up cloak and umbrella, 
one at a time. She almost pushed him into the aisle 
at last, and there he stuck to show her some mural 
tablets of her family that she had seen many times 
before. Thus they reached the porch well in the 


THE DEVASTATORS 89 

rear of his fellow-worshippers, and the dark night 
beckoned them to a lonely walk. 

It was not raining now, so she did not need her 
mackintosh ; he carried it over his arm, and she was 
able to lift her pretty dress from the pools dimly 
shining on every path. It was a wet night still. 
Wind as moist as wind could be hustled the church- 
yard elms, which wept heavily. But Peggy be- 
longed to a country where the smell of rain is sweet, 
and she sniffed it as if the graves were so many beds 
of roses. Those old graves, too, clustering close 
up to the old, old church, with the living town all 
round them, were a fascination to her. Among 
them, quite at the edge of the pathway running up 
and down between the main gate and porch, was a 
group that covered the dust of remote Le Mar- 
chands, of whom one was a Margaret Le Marchand, 
“ aged twenty-two.’^ That was now Peggy’s age, 
and the long-dead Margaret was her great-grand- 
mother, of whom a quaint and pretty portrait was an 
heir-loom at Dorlcote. She glanced at this grave 
now, or where she knew it to be — a sodden mound 
and a mossed headstone — and recalled the pious 
legend carried under the name : “ With Christ, 
which is far better.” Fancy dying at twenty-two, 
with marriage and motherhood just reached ! How 
awful! That was her mental comment. 

“ Mind here,” warned Harry Bedingfield, touch- 
ing her arm. 

“ Thanks,” she answered him. I see.” 

The church crowned the town, and the church- 


90 


THE DEVASTATORS 


yard sloped down to it ; near the gate the path took 
a leap over a flight of steps. Each block of stone 
was deeply worn in the middle, and some of the 
hollows held quarts of rain water; it was a dark 
place, for two aged yew trees intermingled over- 
head. 

“ Look out,’’ the young cavalier repeated. 

You are trailing your petticoats like anything.” 

Never mind,” said she. “ They’ll wash.” 

“ There — you are into another. Take my hand.” 

“ No, thanks. I assure you I can see perfectly.” 

You have got cats’ eyes, then.” 

“ I have. If you look at them, you will see they 
are just cats’ colour.” 

Cats’ eyes are green and yellow, I believe.” 

*^So are mine. A faded green, with a drop or 
two of yellow stirred in.” 

“ To the best of my recollection, they are a beau- 
tiful gray.” 

Heather mixture, let us call it. But green is 
the keynote.” 

I don’t care what the keynote is. I only know 
they are lovely.” 

I would courtesy to you if the ground were 
dry.” As it was, she blushed and exulted at this 
praise — exactly that kind for which she hungered 
most. But beyond the church gate was an ave- 
nue in full leaf, so there was no risk that he would 
see her. “ For lovely eyes,” she remarked, “ I com- 
mend you to my dog, Thomas. He will not want 
speech as long as he can look at you. Where is 


THE DEVASTATORS 


91 


the creature, I wonder? He generally prowls here- 
abouts, amusing himself with a fight or two, while 
I am in church. He has seen all the people come 
out, and is looking for me among them.” She 
blew a note on a whistle she always carried, and a 
shape rushed up. 

“ That you, old man ? ” she sang, and stooped 
to pat him. “ Wringing wet, of course ! Why don’t 
you stay in your good kennel, stupid ? Down, sir ! 
I don’t want any more mud, thank you.” She 
passed on, Thomas whirling in front of her, nose 
to tail. The wind rustled through the branches 
overhead, scattering showers freely. Mr. Beding- 
field opened his umbrella and held it over her. 

“ You will get your bonnet ruined,” he com- 
plained tenderly. 

It isn’t a bonnet,” said she ; it’s a hat.” 

“ Your hat, then. Whatever it is, it’s too pretty 
to spoil.” 

“ What a fuss you are ! It is not raining.” 

“ As far as you are concerned, it is. Every leaf 
is a saucer spilling over you. I think you ought to 
put your cloak on.” 

“ I will not put my cloak on. Why don’t they 
light this place better ? How ridiculous to have one 
lamp at the end, where it is open, and none under 
the trees ! You are a ‘ prominent townsman ’ — why 
don’t you stir them up about it ? ” 

I don’t want any lamps under the trees.” 

“No wonder that even Thomas could not find 
me ! I call it disgraceful, in a town of this size.” 


92 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ Look out — here’s another. Hadn’t you better 
take my arm ? ” 

Haven’t a hand to spare.” But she walked as 
near to him as she could without touching him, and 
did not make his umbrella arm ache excessively. 

“ My mother,” said he, “ used to have an art- 
ful sort of arrangement of strings sewn to her skirt 
inside. They were led through little holes at the 
waist, and fastened to buttons. All she had to do 
was to catch hold of those buttons and pull, and up 
came her dress in regular festoons, like a drop cur- 
tain on the stage ; then she fixed the strings some- 
how to make it keep up, and there she was all tight 
and snug, everything safe out of the mud, and both 
hands free. Why don’t ladies have something of 
that Sort now ? ” 

Those were the times of crinolines,” said 
Peggy. 

“ Yes. And then that loop at the end of the 
long train. You just had to catch hold of it, slip it 
over your waist, and there you were.” 

I have had those. But they are all stupid. 
Why can’t they do the obviously simple thing, and 
let us wear our skirts about a foot off the ground? 
What a different thing life would be ! ” 

“ I should think so. Especially in this weather. 
Can’t I pin it ? ” 

‘'Where’s your pin?” 

He stopped to hunt under his lowest waistcoat 
button, much embarrassed by the umbrella and 
her cloak. She walked ahead of him, laughing. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


93 

“ Oh, do come on ! ’’ said she. “ And don’t be 
so silly.” 

They passed out of the dark avenue into rhe 
lighter but still dim streets, along which the clump, 
clump of their boots in unison raised the peculiar 
Sunday echo. Five minutes more would bring 
them to her door. Harry Bedingfield felt an urgent 
need to make the most of those minutes. 

At any rate,” he said, earnestly, “ you don’t 
wish yourself back in Australia, do you ? ” 

“ Why should I ? ” she returned, taking the cue, 
and dropping her airs of playfulness. 

“ All this bad weather — this dull little town ” 

I don’t find it dull. I am happy.” She smiled 
upon the dismal scene. “ But, of course, there are 
times when I hanker for my home — when it does 
seem that three days of rain on end is rather too 
much of a good thing.” 

I hate to hear you call it your home.” 

“ But it is my home. And I wish you could see 
it as I know it is at this moment, sitting in the sun- 
shine, with all the banksia roses out. They drape 
the veranda like a curtain in September. Oh, dear 
old Kiewarara! There isn’t a place like it on the 
face of the earth.” 

This was the desired mood. “ I wish I could see 
it,” he murmured feelingly. “I would give any- 
thing to see your home, where you grew up.” 

“ Well, come over to us for a holiday after we 
get back.” 

You won’t go back.” 


7 


94 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ Of course we shall go back, as soon as the boys 
have finished school; perhaps before. The sooner 
the better, I sometimes think, for father’s sake ; he 
is like a lost sheep without his work.” 

“ But you won’t go,” insisted Harry, with seer- 
like confidence. 

“ Who is to stop me ? ” she mocked lightly. 

“ I will,” said he, “ if I can.” 

“ Pooh!” 

But it had been said. And when such a thing is 
said, it has to be followed up. He kissed her at her 
father’s door. 


CHAPTER VIII 


Early in November the Le Marchands gave a 
ball to celebrate Peggy’s engagement. 

That engagement had not been ratified without 
some trouble and delay. Peggy, if not a beauty, 
was still a moderately important person; the only 
daughter of her family and a considerable heiress. 
William Le Marchand had destined her for some- 
thing better than a young country solicitor with his 
way to make. However, she said, in her firm voice, 
“ Father, I want to have him,” and so, of course, 
got him in the end. Her mother abetted her from 
the first — that is, after she had decided with her 
daughter that Harry was to be lured to Melbourne, 
there to practise his profession to particular advan- 
tage, as he would do with the interest of his wife’s 
connections at his back. Almost any decent fellow, 
coming as a potential child of the house, might have 
been sure of loving welcome from that kindly crea- 
ture, who never could have had too many children 
for her taste; but the elected one, in person and 
manners, in all respects indeed, proved to her an 
ideal son-in-law. She was never tired of petting 
him. And Peggy thought his pretty behaviour to 

95 


THE DEVASTATORS 


96 

her mother the nicest thing about him, where all 
was nice. She used to declare herself jealous on 
account of the endearments that passed between 
them. His own people, dissembling their satisfac- 
tion as they could, for the sake of appearances, en- 
tirely approved ; for there were other sons, and the 
young lady’s prospective fortune was believed to be 
much greater than it was. The father’s promise of 
i 1 0,000 down on the wedding day was in itself 
enough to recommend the match ; moreover, al- 
though the Bedingfields thought no small things 
of themselves, the Le Marchands of Dorlcote were 
acknowledged to be the higher family. The be- 
trothed pair went about all smiles, models of good 
breeding for persons in their position; visibly hap- 
py, and not sickening beholders with mawkish dem- 
onstrations of the fact. And so everything was as 
right as possible, and everybody was pleased. 

It was while the boys were at home for Michael- 
mas that the affair was settled, and the domestic 
festival took place. After their return to school 
the invitations were sent out for the more public 
function, on the understanding that the overplus 
of the supper was to be theirs ; and now the night 
had come. The drawing-room carpet was up, and 
the hall was the drawing-room, one mass of palms 
and rich rugs and silk cushions and firelight; the 
whole house was in gala dress, given over to the 
hospitalities of the great occasion. Yesterday Aunt 
Harriet had arrived, with her hoarded lace and jew- 
ellery; this afternoon Uncle Gordon from Dorlcote 


THE DEVASTATORS 


97 


with his antique dress-coat. This afternoon also the 
bridegroom-elect, that he might help his sweetheart 
with the finishing touches. Dinner ha-d blended 
these incongruous elements somewhat, and it was 
the hour when the men snatched a whiff of tobacco, 
while the women were upstairs for gloves and a last 
flirt of the hair-comb. 

Peggy was occupied with her aunt, whose toilet 
was a matter of consuming interest and anxiety. 
She changed and changed, and took so long to con- 
sider each effect that even the amiable girl lost pa- 
tience. 

Auntie, dear,” she pleaded, “ you are just as 
beautiful as you can be! There is not a wrinkle 
anywhere. Sticking plaster could not set better. 
So come along.” 

“ I am sure it dips more this side than that,” 
Miss Hedway complained feverishly. “ Now, Mar- 
garet, don’t bustle me ; I am quite red as it is with 
being hurried so. Look at me ! I would put just 
a touch of powder on, only I am afraid it would 
show. My dear, I must be decent. You know how 
that supercilious uncle of yours would sneer if I did 
not look quite correct.” 

“ I assure you,” declared Peggy, all too truth- 
fully, “ that if you came down in your dressing- 
gown, he would not notice the difference. Now do 
let that lace alone ; it lies as even as a pair of com- 
passes. If you meddle with it you will spoil it.” 

“ And you are sure the locket looks better 
than the cross? It is not too old-fashioned, is it? 


THE DEVASTATORS 


98 

Margaret, you are not grudging me a few min- 
utes’ thought and consideration — on a day like 
this ! ” 

“ My dear soul, I have considered nothing else 
for the last half-hour. Shall I get a Bible and kiss 
it ? I solemnly declare that you are correct in every 
particular, and could not look nicer anyhow. The 
gray silk is perfectly lovely, and that bit of Honiton 
exquisite.” 

Miss Hedway surveyed the fabrics, and their re- 
flection in the long glass, searchingly, with growing 
confidence ; she fixed her eyes on the pearl-rimmed 
locket, reposing upon her spare chest. 

“ They are good” she said, at last, and suffered 
herself to be led downstairs. Mr. Gordon Le Mar- 
chand rose from a warm sofa corner in the hall, as 
she minced in. She took the seat he offered, beam- 
ing upon him. Her brother-in-law was standing 
on the hearth-rug, legs apart, coat tails over his 
wrists, in the house-master’s attitude. They were 
a handsome pair of men — one thin and hawk-faced, 
with a nose you could almost see through ; the other 
portly and towering, impressive by his size and 
weight, and a certain princely carriage of the head 
and virility of eye. This was William, who marked 
the little woman’s entrance upon the scene by 
abruptly ceasing his conversation with his brother. 
He just stayed to ask her, for the fourth or fifth time, 
how her friend Mr. Snowden was, and whether the 
Prince of Wales had been to see him lately ; then set 
off on a restless tramp about the rooms, looking for 


THE DEVASTATORS 


99 

something that had been left undone or not done 
properly. 

“ Jane ! ” he called, irritably. Then, with a roar, 
because she did not at once answer him, “ Jane ! ” 
How well one knows that tone of marital command ! 
Jane was as used to it as to food and sleep, and did 
not seem to mind it in the least. She swam in — 
rolled in, rather — with her never-failing smile. 

Yes, dear?’’ 

Don’t you see what time it is? You will be 
having the people here, and no one to receive 
them.” 

I was just coming, William. I am quite ready.” 

Peggy had dressed her, as well as the aunt, and 
she looked as nice as so fat a woman could, in black 
velvet, with a great spread of fine lace over her too 
ample breast. A knot of lace, with an aigrette out 
of it, sat with quite a style upon her ashy-red hair, 
crimped with Peggy’s tongs. She would have been 
“ anyhow,” as Peggy expressed it, but for her min- 
istrations; as it was, she made a pleasant picture, 
although her husband saw no beauty in it, and her 
sister hugged herself to think she was so different. 
Gordon was the only one who admired her. 

'' Sit here, Jane,” said he, brother-like, and not 
with the stiff politeness he showed to her sister. He 
stood by an arm-chair that had a capacity equal to 
her bulk, the chair of honour beside the fire. 

Oh, my dear, don’t let me take your seat,” 
said she, waving him back to it. 

“ Sit down,” he insisted. '' And don’t be so 

LofC. 


lOO 


THE DEVASTATORS 


dreadfully humble in your own house. It is your 
place.” 

“ Certainly,” Miss Hedway chimed in. “ Like 
the right-hand corner of your carriage, Jane. You 
should always take the right-hand corner. People 
forget these little things, when they have been long 
out of England.” 

'' I can’t be bothered thinking about them,” 
said Jane easily. “ I am sure I don’t care where 
I sit.” She took the chair offered, but almost im- 
mediately vacated it for Mrs. Bedingfield, who came 
early, as belonging to the family, to have a little 
chat before other guests arrived. Harry’s mother 
was a good-looking, active, managing woman, in- 
clined to gossip. She never came without bringing 
news with her. 

“ It is a nice, fine night,” she said, and the 
White Hart yard is packed with vehicles. A good 
many are dining and dressing there, I suppose. I 
saw the Rumford phaeton come in at five o’clock, 
three people in it, and a huge cardboard box across 
their knees; the driver could only just see over it. 
The Mileses have gone to the Chanters’. Mrs. Pat- 
tison is at the White Hart ; the Cheveleys brought 
her. Her husband won’t get here till late in the 
evening, if at all. They have had some bad news 
of Mr. Dallas — a relapse, or a fresh attack ; Mr. Pat- 
tison has gone to London to get a specialist to send 
to him. He is somewhere in Italy, so it will cost him 
a pretty penny. I think it seems rather serious this 
time, by what they say ; but then he is so often going 


THE DEVASTATORS 


lOI 


to die, and does not do it. The estate will be eaten 
up with doctor’s bills if it goes on much longer.” 

“Poor, man!” the hostess commiserated. “I 
hope he has somebody with him to nurse him prop- 
erly. Nursing is of far more importance than doc- 
toring.” 

“ Of course he has his wife. But you can’t ex- 
pect much from her — only four-and-twenty, and he 
sixty, if a day.” 

“ Well,” sighed Mrs. Le Marchand, “ if men will 
be so foolish — But there’s one comfort; from 
what Peggy tells me, the estate will be in good 
hands if he does have to leave it.” 

“Ah, that’s just the point! Will it? Mr. Pat- 
tison says the next heir has no more notion of the 
duties of a landed proprietor than the man in the 
moon. He’ll make ducks and drakes of it, he says. 
That is, if he is the next heir.” Mrs. Bedingfield 
leaned toward Mrs. Le Marchand, and whispered 
behind her fan. 

“ Poor thing ! ” the latter murmured. “ Poor 
thing! What a dreadful disappointment. But, so 
young as she is, one could not expect her not to 
marry again, and then she will have another chance. 
The loss of Rumford is a small thing compared with 
that loss.” 

“ I don’t fancy Mrs. Dallas will think so. She 
would give her ears to be queen regent there. She 
would make the money fly. I wi^h to goodness 
somebody would come and do it — open that house, 
and set things going again.” 


102 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ I am sure Dr. Dallas — from what Peggy tells 


“ Does Peggy know him, then ? ” 

‘‘ She knows him well, and has the very highest 

opinion of him. She says ” 

But here Miss Hedway broke in, for this was 
her ground. She knew Dr. Dallas, far better than 
ever Peggy did, who had only seen him twice to 
speak to; she had lived in his neighbourhood for 
years, seeing him constantly, meeting him “ in so- 
ciety ” now and again, knowing more about him, 
perhaps, than any one else. So she reported him 
at length, with some aid from imagination, omitting 
to mention the little mistake as to his occupation 
which she had once made. Mrs. Bedingfield lis- 
tened with both ears, storing all for future use ; Mr. 
Gordon Le Marchand gazed steadily upon the floor. 
When a suitable pause occurred, he gently ad- 
dressed Mrs. Bedingfield. 

Three persons in the Rumford phaeton, did 
you say ? Who was the third ? 

'' Oh, didn’t you know ? ” responded the ma- 
tron, heartily, seizing the attractive bait. “ Mimi 
Rochester, Mrs. Miles’s niece — Mimi Carter 
that was. Surely you remember Mimi Carter 
when she used to live in Dareham, before her 
uncle got Rumford — while he was curate to 
Mr. Chanter, you know. She was an or- 
phan, and stayed with them for a time. I 
think they got tired of her, for another relative 
took her; and then we lost sight of her, until I 


THE DEVASTATORS 


103 


heard from Mrs. Miles that she was married. I 
believe she was only sixteen — precocious minx! I 
don’t know who her husband was, but something 
shady, I fancy, as the Mileses don’t care to talk 
about him. He died about six months ago, and 
here she is back again, on a visit to her aunt. Let 
us hope that time and trouble have improved her. 
There was room for it. A more objectionable brat 
I never came across. Mrs. Miles once wanted her 
to share my children’s governess, and I tried it 
for a quarter; that was enough for me. I would 
not have her associating with them. Lies — deceit, 

pinchings, and scratchings ” An expressive 

gesture completed the sentence. 

“ Poor little thing ! ” crooned a soft fat voice. 

Motherless!” 

'' Yes, there is something in that,” Mrs. Beding- 
field admitted. “ But now, look here, Mrs. Le 
Marchand — what do you think of a woman who 
goes to a ball only six months after her husband’s 
death ? ” 

Well, I should not do it myself,” said the 
hostess ; nor would you. But, as Mrs. Miles said 
to me when she asked me for a card, it is dull for 
her at Rumford — a young thing — not older, I be- 
lieve, than my own Peggy; and a little distraction, 
something to arouse her from her sad thoughts, 
is what she wants. If she can bring herself to come, 
as I said to Mrs. Miles, it will do her worlds of good, 
and I am glad to hear they have coaxed her half- 
way; I hope she will come the rest. Better than 


104 


THE DEVASTATORS 


moping alone, poor child ! I should think her hus- 
band would say so, if he knew. We are not such 
wildly gay people that anybody need make scandal 
of it; just quiet folks, seeing our friends in a 
homely way.” 

“ Homely ! ” ejaculated Mrs. Bedingfield, flash- 
ing eyes to right and left. 

That’s the word,” put in Gordon Le Marchand. 

It is always homely where she is, no matter what 
we are doing.” 

In the dining-room Peggy was running round 
the tables, Harry trying to assist her; and he was 
telling her about Mimi Carter that was. 

“ It’s a lark,” he chuckled, “ her coming here 
to-night. She used to say, when she was about 
ten years old, that I was her sweetheart, and was 
to marry her as soon as I grew up. She insisted 
on it with tooth and nail. When I went after 
other girls, she would claw their eyes out if she 
could, or else mine. A regular little devil of a flirt 
she was, right from her very cradle.” 

“ You must have been a nice one yourself,” said 
Peggy, continuing her business of “ settling ” the 
supper decorations in a business-like way. “ How 
many girls did you go after, as you call it, before 
you came after me ? ” 

“ Oh, you need not be jealous,” said he. You 
have got me now, away from them all.” 

And he had got her, fairly by the waist with 
both arms, muscles toughened in the playing 
fields to the irresistibility of Manila rope. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


105 


“ When I am jealous, sir, you will have seen 
the last of me. Oh ! Oh ! There, you have 
smashed your buttonhole. Well, I have not time 
to make you another.'^ 

You did it. What did you want to make me 
hug you for? Compose me a fresh one, madam, 
instantly. I am not going into the ballroom with- 
out a flower in my coat ; don’t you think it.” 

“ Ho ! ho ! Do you suppose I am going to be 
ordered about that fashion?” 

“ Of course you are. I am your lord and mas- 
ter. You have got to obey me — love, honour, and 
obey” 

Not yet. And not at all, if you don’t behave 
yourself.” 

You won’t ? Then I shall simply hold you 
till you do. No, I don’t care how many servants 
come into the room. I don’t care if all the visitors 
arrive without us. You promise to make me an- 
other buttonhole, or here you will stand until 
supper time. It is no use to struggle, you will 
only damage that gauze stuff — it is all over the 
place already. I am stronger than you.” 

Oh, you great bully ! Baby ! This comes of 
getting engaged to an Englishman. I will jilt you, 
as sure as you are alive, and you can ‘ go after ’ 
your Miss Carter again ; I dare say she is a match 
for you. Harry — darling \ Well, I can’t make you 
a buttonhole until I get the use of my hands.” 

He took her parole, and she ravaged the supper 
table of its choicest to make him a better bouquet 


io6 


THE DEVASTATORS 


than the last. As she stood to pin it to his coat 
he pulled her ears and her nicely curled fringe, and 
tilted her chin mischievously. 

‘‘ After all, they are green, Peggy."’ 

She lifted them to his bold gaze, and, green 
or gray, they were brimming /with honest love. 
“ What colour are Miss Carter’s ? ” 

“ There, she’s jealous ! I knew it. Miss Carter 
— but she is not Miss Carter now. She is Mrs. 
Rochester. Isn’t it a grand name? Reminds you 
of Jane Eyre and all sorts of harrowing love scenes. 
I shall be thinking of them all the time I am danc- 
ing with her, with my arm around her waist.” 

“ You may act them as well as think of them, 
for all I care, if she is ready to waltz and carry on 
six months after her husband’s death.” 

“ Aha ! There you go ! Now I see what 
you’ve got green eyes for. I’m ashamed of you, 
to be jealous of a poor, lone, lorn wid- 
der ” 

But here their fooling was interrupted by the 
loudly pealing door-bell. 

“ Oh, gracious ! ” exclaimed Peggy, shaking 
herself. How is my hair, Harry ? ” 

As red as a ripe tomato — no, that’s not quite 
the shade — as the tiles on the stable roof, let us 
say.” 

With this interchange of compliments they 
sidled into the hall, the girl flushed, radiant with 
her inward happiness ; the handsome youth behind 


THE DEVASTATORS 


107 


her equally pleased with himself, as shown by his 
springy step and the smiling upward curve of his 
mustache points. 

Guests were arriving in shoals — everybody 
within the rigidly defined limits of Dareham society, 
and gentlefolk from miles around. Mr. Le Mar- 
chand, an Englishman in England, though hail-fel- 
low-well-met with anybody in the colonies, had reg- 
ulated the invitation list, and so the company was 
quite select; no one included whom the fastidious 
Mrs. Pattison could object to meet. Almost all 
who had been asked had accepted (down to widows 
of six months’ standing) ; the chief and sad excep- 
tion being Keith Macdonald, too busy with his work 
in London to get away, he said. Peggy had sup- 
posed that nothing would be allowed to prevent his 
getting away if she wanted him, but she was wrong 
for once. She wrote to say that her party would 
be not only incomplete, but altogether spoiled, 
without him, and still he did not come. And 
still, as it is needless to add, her party was not 
spoiled. 

Mrs. Pattison, wife of the Rumford agent, ac- 
companied the Cheveleys, principal tenants of the 
estate; and they had much to say of their lord in 
Italy and the crisis of the hour, in which all were 
interested. The question whether Mr. Dallas 
would really die this time, or continue to trifle 
with the feelings of his friends as heretofore, set- 
tled the success of the party at the outset. It al- 
lowed no place for that vague constraint which 


io8 the devastators 

usually marks the first stage of a formal entertain- 
ment, and often costs the hostess so much effort 
to remove. All talked together, and expressed to 
one another their vehement desire for the speedy 
return of Mr. Pattison with the latest news. 

“ Well, I am glad you came, at any rate,” said 
the burly host, as he might have said, “ I am glad 
all my money has not gone in the bank smash ” ; 
and he led Mrs. Pattison to a sofa corner that 
held promise of an adjacent vacancy by-and-bye. 
She was Jane’s opposite to the extremest degree, 
tall, dark, willowy, elegant — that last was the ad- 
jective that jumped first to the beholder’s lips — and 
used a dear old-days’ tone of voice to William Le 
Marchand that made the interval since they played 
together like a dream to him. 

Of course I came,” was her simple answer, as 
she sank into the silk pillows and looked up at him 
with her starry eyes. 

He had to go, poor fellow, to receive the com- 
mon herd, but he left courtly old Mr. Bedingfield 
to talk to her until he could return. Mr. Beding- 
field also had known her from a child, and had 
revealed to his host, in after-dinner confidence, a 
sympathetic appreciation of her mature charms. In 
fact, Mrs. Pattison was the graybeards’ belle ' in 
that part of the country, and if there was one thing 
that she hated more than another it was a young 
beauty. 

Just now her dark eyes were following, with 
veiled intentness, the movements of her toiling host- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


109 

ess, and her companion noticed it. They ex- 
changed an expressive glance. 

“ Poor William ! sighed the lady, pensively. 

Oh,” smiled the other, I don’t know that he 
is so badly off.” 

It must be a daily martyrdom to a man of 
his ingrained refinement.” 

“ He is used to it. Besides, she is a dear crea- 
ture, in her way. An excellent housekeeper. 
Good-natured to a fault, and never sparing herself 
for her family. And so peaceable! Oh, dear me, 
he might easily have done worse 1 ” 

But to think of him\ Nothing is more incom- 
prehensible to me than the way some men — the 
most unlikely men — choose their wives.” 

“ There is hardly so much choice in it as ap- 
pears, in many cases.” 

“ That must be the explanation.” 

“ Now take this case. Our friend goes out to 
Australia at the age of twenty-one ; that is, as soon 
as he is his own master. He succeeds. Having 
elected to settle in the country, he must have a 
home, which presupposes a wife. He looks around 
him; probably sees one female to fifty men, and 
she a barmaid, or some other kind of working 
woman — perhaps a convict’s daughter. What is 
he to do? He does the best thing, under the 
circumstances — and a common practice with the 
settlers of those days — sends home for some 
girl he has known, who is likely to consent to 
come out to marry him. Not every girl, after 
8 


1 10 


THE DEVASTATORS 


an interval of five or six years, will be willing to 
do this/' 

“ I should think not ! " sniffed Mrs. Pattison. 

“ It appears," continued Mr. Bedingfield, “ that 
our friend had met Miss Jane Hedway under some- 
what romantic conditions. He was thrown from his 
horse n^ar a farm-house occupied by a relative of 
hers, with whom she chanced to be staying at the 
time. He was carried into this house, and there 
lay for several weeks, too ill to be moved. The 
lady, a domesticated person, assisted to nurse him — 
made him broths and jellies, and so on. The usual 
result occurred. In her case, naturally, a very 
fervent attachment, for he was an extremely hand- 
some fellow. Equally natural was it that his fancy 
should pass with his recovery and return to his own 
circle ; the proof of this is that he emigrated, shortly 
afterward, without seeking to see her again. But 
he thought of her when he wanted a wife for the 
bush, one who could cook " 

“ Ah ! " Mrs. Pattison broke in, raising herself 
from the sofa cushions. “ She has come ! " 

There was a stir in the hall, now full and over- 
flowing into the dancing-room. The Chanters and 
the Mileses had arrived. The rector of Dareham 
did not go to balls, so Mrs. Chanter led the party, 
with her depressed-looking daughter, who was not 
allowed to dance. Genial Mr. Miles thought no 
harm of such diversions, and liked to see young 
folk enjoying themselves; he and Mrs. Miles suf- 
fered more from their great house being shut up 


THE DEVASTATORS 


III 


than any one in the neighbourhood. Unfor- 
tunately, they had no daughter. But who was this 
on the stout clergyman’s arm? Mr. Bedingfield 
put the question audibly, and the whole company 
seemed stunned by the reply, watching the smiling 
stranger as she slowly swam up to the hostess, who 
all but embraced her then and there. 

“ My dear,” said the hostess, “ I am so glad you 
felt able to come.” For this was a young creature 
not only widowed, but — which was far more dread- 
ful — babyless; consequently an object to make the 
motherly heart bleed. 

“ Mis-ter and Mis-sers Miles and Mis-sers 
Roch-es-^^r ! ” the hired footman had shouted, de- 
termined there should be no mistake. 

“ What ! This Mrs. Rochester — little Mimi 
Carter that was? The little scraggy, shabby, pre- 
cocious, troublesome child, incubus of a poor cu- 
rate’s household, and demoralizer of her young 
companions, in days gone by! Who would have 
thought it ? ” 

She came in with the calm dignity, the gracious 
affability of a queen, wearing a lovely dress of black 
gauze, a black ribbon round her neck of snow, 
hair like a golden diadem, the figure of a budding 
goddess, and the face of an angel, simply. 

Harry Bedingfield looked at her over Peggy’s 
red head. 

“ My word I ” he muttered, with an indrawn 
breath, in a voice that seemed to rise from his 
boots. 


% 


CHAPTER IX 

What, to a normal girl, but slightly acquainted 
with either of them, is a mere intellectual, good 
man, aged forty and wearing spectacles, compared 
with a tall and fair athlete of twenty-six, who has 
little in him but the pride and vigour of physically 
perfect young manhood? Nothing, of course, as 
everybody knows. 

Similarly, what, to the latter person, is a sweet, 
honest, good girl, with red hair and a large mouth, 
when a woman of distinguished beauty (let her 
character be what it may) comes suddenly upon 
the scene? 

The cynic smile with which Mr. Gordon Le 
Marchand surveyed from his commanding height 
the entrance of Mrs. Rochester and its effect upon 
Harry Bedingfield seemed to put this question and 
find a similar answer. The young man subse- 
quently confessed, quite freely, to Peggy, among 
others, that he had been “ knocked all of a heap ’’ 
by his surprise. And he was not the only one. His 
fellow men present also made little involuntary ex- 
clamations of “ My word ! and By Jove ! which, 
though composed of but half a dozen letters, spelt 


II2 


THE DEVASTATORS 


II3 

volumes. And even after they had identified the 
old features in their ripened transformation, and the 
old manners disciplined and refined — ^when they 
were assured that it was Mimi still, only woman 
instead of child — she remained virtually all new, a 
vision of loveliness such as few of them had seen 
before. In pressing her to come, Mrs. Le Mar- 
chand had had a single eye to the young widow’s 
own welfare, but she could have done nothing bet- 
ter in the interests of her party. The expected 
demise of Mr. Dallas had given brightness to the 
opening proceedings; the sensation of Mrs. Roch- 
ester’s coming made the evening brilliant. The 
very graybeards coruscated. One who was cer- 
tainly old enough to know better rushed up to the 
beauty hater to demand breathlessly who that hand- 
some creature was. In her simplicity of attire, and 
her association with the clerical party, he had 
seemed to see some modest violet of a country 
clergyman’s daughter, shyly peeping out for the 
first time from the dell where she had blushed un- 
seen ; and so the reply that he got rather staggered 
him. 

'' Sir,” said Mr. Gordon Le Marchand, '' I will 
not say that there is a personal devil, because I 
don’t know — I don’t pin my faith to creeds ; but if 
there is a personal devil, there he walks.” 

Eh ? What ? ” the other gasped, and stared. 
‘'You don’t understand me. I was speaking of 
the beautiful girl who has just come in with Mrs. 
Chanter.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


1 14 

So was I — only she is not a girl. You look 
at that eye of hers ; you will see fifty years of worldly 
wisdom — devil’s wisdom — in it.” 

“ The devil is in you, to talk of a poor woman 
that way. And a lovely woman, that any man 
who’s half a man feels to want to go down on his 
knees to.” 

“ What for should he go down on his knees ? 
If he wanted to do the right thing, he’d want to 
put her in a sack with a lump of lead and drown 
her.” 

“ Le Marchand, you have been taking too much 
wine for dinner. That’s what’s the matter with 
you.” 

“ No, Cheveley ; I don’t drink, for the sake of 
my liver. It is you that get drunk as soon as you 
set eyes on a — a — a thing that, upon my soul, makes 
me sick to look at it.” 

“ What do you allege against her ? But, no, I 
would not listen if you told me.” 

Nothing — I allege nothing. I am informed 
that I was acquainted with her when she was a child, 
but I don’t remember it. She could not have been 
the stamp of child to attract me. I don’t know 
her in the least.” 

“ Then why ” 

‘‘ I her.” 

Enlightenment came to Mr. Cheveley. “ Oh ! 
ah ! ” he laughed. “ I remember now that bee in 
your bonnet. But I had no idea it went such 
lengths. You had better look out, my boy, or you 


THE DEVASTATORS 


II5 

will find yourself in the lunatic asylum one of these 
fine days/’ 

Gordon Le Marchand passed the insult with a 
smile. “ The world is a lunatic asylum,” said he. 
“ I am the sane patient.” 

‘‘ Oh, naturally ! ” jeered the other. “ Well, I’m 
going to find some one to introduce me to the lady. 
I see it is no good asking you.” 

Wait a minute.” The beauty hater put out a 
hand to detain the beauty lover, for the man was 
his old friend and neighbour. “ Now, see here, 
Cheveley; you are a seasoned vessel, not a hot- 
head like that young ass Bedingfield, who stands 
gaping at the creature like a stuck pig — all ready 
to start on the old road over the body of the best 
girl going — you have had your experiences, the 
same as I have; just tell me this — did you ever 
know a pretty woman that was what you would call 
a right good sort ? ” 

I fancy I have, plenty of times.” 

Think again. A pretty woman who cared for 
anything but herself and her looks? A pretty 
woman that you could trust behind her smiles and 
wheedlings ? A pretty woman who did not suck the 
virtue out of every honest man she could lay hands 

on? A pretty woman ” 

Oh, let her be a pretty woman ! ” the reck- 
less Cheveley broke in, his eye upon the angel 
face of the stranger, whose name he did not 
yet know. Deuce take it ! That’s enough 
for me.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


ii6 

“ Then go/’ said the cynic, giving him a push. 
“ Go, fellow, and run with the other Gadarene 
swine. IVe done with you.” 

The midnight supper was still in progress when 
Mrs. Chanter declared she must really be going. 
According to the traditions of her household, 
amusements that might be innocent up to the stroke 
of 12 p. M. became orgies of profligacy, as if 
it were Sunday morning every day; and now she 
was worried by a mental picture of her husband 
sitting in his study at watch upon the clock, his 
austere face stiffening steadily as the vicious small 
hours ticked away. Also their daughter was in 
her hands, and she would have to answer for it 
if harm came to that precious soul. So she with- 
stood Mrs. Le Marchand’s assertion that it was 
impossible to allow anybody to go so soon. The 
depressed Miss Chanter obeyed like an automaton 
the signalling maternal eye, and Mrs. Miles, seeing 
what was afoot, came up to say, in a whisper, that 
she, too, had had enough of it. Mrs. Miles, living 
in the country, and having no daughter to make 
exertions for, had become wedded to the habit of 
going to rest at nine o’clock ; the same with Mr. 
Miles, whose willing spirit, eager for cheerful ad- 
venture, was unhappily subject to a weakness of 
the flesh — rheumatic pains, which a cold drive had 
aggravated. The Rumford party were guests for 
the night of the Dareham rector and his wife, and 
all longed to get home, out of their smart clothes, 


THE DEVASTATORS 


II7 

and into their beds — all save one. What about 
Mrs. Miles’s niece? 

She had come late to the supper table from some 
nook on the stairs, and was just seated, waiting 
for the refreshment which a dozen men were strug- 
gling for. That she could go without her supper 
was a suggestion carrying absurdity upon the face 
of it ; that she should go at all at such an hour, just 
as she was beginning to feel cheered and happy, 
was deemed preposterous. 

“ You leave her with us, Mrs. Chanter,” said 
Harry Bedingfield, eagerly. “We will take care 
of her, and some of us will see her home safely — 
if you must go. You don’t happen to have the 
latch-key in your pocket, any of you ? ” 

“We do not” said Mrs. Chanter, as if accused 
of carrying a brandy bottle in the same place. She 
had never seen the latch-key, and hoped never to do 
so. “ If Mrs. Rochester wishes to stay — I thought, 
perhaps, she would prefer to retire early ” — this 
with a look at the young widow which said more 
than words — “ there will be somebody sitting up 
to let her in.” 

“ Oh, we will all go together,” said Mrs. Roch- 
ester, rising- from her untasted champagne, fully 
assured that she would yet enjoy them. “ Of course 
I don’t wish to stay if you are tired, dears.” 

“ Hi ! ” called Harry after a massive velvet back. 
“ Come here, Mrs. Le Marchand.” 

Ten minutes later the queen of the evening was 
supping leisurely with her little court, and Peggy 


ii8 the devastators 

was tying mufflers round the necks of the clerical 
ladies in the improvised dressing-room. Mr. Miles 
whispered to Peggy that he would gladly have 
waited for Mrs. Rochester as long as she pleased, 
in spite of his rheumatism, but that he thought a 
young woman would rather be seen home by a 
young man than by an old fogey like himself. His 
wife overheard him, and cried : “ Oh, for shame ! 
When her husband has been dead only six 
months ! ’’ 

“ I know,’’ the beauty said in confidence to her 
old friend and playmate, “ that I am scandalizing 
everybody. But I can’t help it. It is the first bit 
of pleasure I have had since — oh, almost ever since 
I went away from Dareham.” 

She looked at Harry in a way to emphasize the 
significance of the statement, and he looked ear- 
nestly at her. “ Really ? ” he queried, sinking his 
voice. 

“ I don’t tell people, you know. But, between 
ourselves, looking back now, it just seems like an 
ugly dream — a nightmare.” 

Nothing could have been worse taste than such 
a disclosure, but she was well aware that the young 
man who would so judge it did not sit beside her, 
and probably had never been born. Harry was a 
little embarrassed, but greatly flattered and touched. 

“ I had no idea,” he muttered. I never 
heard.” 

“ You know,” she reminded him, ‘‘ I was not 
seventeen.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


II9 

“ You couldn’t have been.” 

“ It was having no home — no father and mother 
— no place anywhere, except where I was a nui- 
sance and a burden.” 

I remember. They were all hard on you. 
Even we beasts of children treated you abominably 
\ — little knowing ” 

“ I expect I was a beast, too. But what chance 
had I?” 

Poor little Mimi ! But I must not call you 
Mimi now.” 

Oh, do ; I don’t mind you. It will be like old 
times.” 

'' They must be horrid times for you to 
think of,” 

“ Somehow they are not. I had not tumbled 
into the infernal regions then.” 

Ah ! ” breathed he. And they looked at each 
other. 

After all, you don’t expect a child to know, do 
you, Harry ? ” 

Of course not. It is a burning shame. Some- 
body should have prevented it,” he stormed in un- 
dertones. 

“ I suppose nobody cared enough. But it was 
cruel.” She took several mouthfuls of ginger 
cream in quick succession, and a liberal measure 
of champagne. “ What,” she asked, as he set her 
glass down, did you think about it, Harry — when 
you heard ? ” 

“ Why,” said he, abstractedly replenishing the 


120 


THE DEVASTATORS 


glass, “ I laughed. I didn’t believe it. Only the 
day before, it seemed, you had been running about 
Dareham in pinafores and a pigtail.” 

“ The pigtail you used to pull so mercilessly.” 

“ I never.” 

‘‘You did; you were always teasing me. You 
were my worst enemy.” 

“ Oh, be merciful ! If I ever hurt a hair of 
your head ” 

“ Well?” 

He lifted brightening eyes, which rove over 
her exquisitely dressed tawny golden hair — hair 
which had some of the colour of Peggy’s in it, yet 
no more resembled Peggy’s than an apricot resem- 
bles a carrot. “ I had no idea the pigtail was made 
of — that” said he. 

“ There were lots of things,” she laughed pen- 
sively, “ that we had no idea of in those days.” 

“Yes, indeed,” he rejoined swiftly. 

Later, when she had eaten heartily, and they 
had accounted between them for a bottle of 
champagne — when the supper room was nearly 
empty, and enticing strains from the ball-room 
stealing emotionally upon the ear — Harry drew out 
his dance program. The waltz in progress was 
Peggy’s, but Peggy had charged him to act as host 
first and ball partner afterward in her case ; to come 
for her or not, according to the way the wall-flowers 
went off. The moment he saw her name he turned 
to Mrs. Rochester and said : “ Dance this with 
me, Mimi?” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


I2I 


She had not been dancing, because it was con- 
sidered bad enough to go to a ball, in her circum- 
stances, without that. It had been tacitly taken 
for granted that she would draw the line there. 
But, with champagne and kindred elements effer- 
vescing in her young blood, the temptation was 
irresistible. 

“ Oh, I daren't ! " she affected to protest. 
“ What would they think of me ? ” 

Who cares what they think ? ” blustered 
Harry, sympathetically exhilarated. Where’s 
the harm? Especially when — as you said ” 

“ Yes. It is not six months, it is years ^ since 
I have been a widow, really.” The words ran 
glibly. The cold ear of Mr. Gordon Le Marchand 
might have gathered the impression that they had 
frequently been said before. The present young 
man heard only the intimate, confidential note. He 
held out his hands — almost his arms. 

Then come along. What matters outside 
show, if you don’t mourn in your heart? Besides, 
one can do anything after supper. And the cat’s 
away.” 

“ She has left other cats behind her.” They 
alluded to Mrs. Chanter, whose presence would 
have made the contemplated indulgence impos- 
sible. 

‘‘ They don’t count,” said Harry. 

“ I don’t see why they should,” said Mimi. 

So, in a few minutes, the company was surprised 
by the spectacle of a black-robed little figure, with 


122 


THE DEVASTATORS 


very white arms and shoulders, circling round and 
round the ball-room in the embrace of Miss Le 
Marchand’s young man. The matrons among 
whom she had sat, and with whom she had seemed 
to identify herself hitherto, were somewhat shocked ; 
a few, including Mrs. Pattison, professed to be 
scandalized, and men who had not dared to ask 
for dances, or had been refused, were wounded and 
raging. But the principals in the affair seemed 
oblivious of this. In fact, they were so. Subtle 
interblendings of wine and friendship, without in 
any way grossly intoxicating them, had an effect 
on their brains akin to that of gas pumped into a 
balloon. They soared above the level of the unin- 
spired crowd. They lost sight of it. The dancing 
spirit was upon them. 

“ If it had been a quadrille now ! ” sighed some- 
body. But it was not a quadrille. Far from it. 
And it happened that both of them were accom- 
plished waltzers. Handsome people, for evident 
reasons, are nearly always proficient in the social 
arts. They floated together with the delicious ease 
of two leaves upon running water or two feathers 
in the wind, and felt — as they confessed in breath- 
less whispers to each other — that they could go on 
doing it forever and a day. 

Harry caught Peggy’s eye as he swept past 
her. She was standing among the wall-flowers to 
keep them entertained, and had to draw her blue 
skirt out of the soft rush of the gauzy black one, 
to step back from the path of the twinkling feet. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


123 


light as butterflies, and the sprawl of her lover’s 
energetic legs. He looked at her, and she smiled ; 
it was a real smile. She was thinking of his threat 
to remember Jane Eyre and the harrowing love 
scenes when he was dancing with Mimi Rochester 
with his arm round her waist, and took this to be 
his mischievous declaration to her that he was as 
good as his word. The green orbs had no faintest 
hint of jealousy in them — only the kindliest amuse- 
ment. 

Mrs. Rochester caught an eye, but one that had 
a very different expression. Like a little dagger 
stroke, it caused a sudden effusion of blood into 
her shell-pink cheek. 

“ Harry,” she whispered, “ Fve got an en- 
emy.” 

‘‘Where, Mimi?” 

“ Don’t look — don’t stop,” she urged. “ Go on, 
Harry. We’ll go on to the very end, and have 
another after it, just to spite her.” 

“ Who?” 

“ That Pattison woman. I knew she hated me. 
She is watching me like a cat, and calling the 
other cats to mark the disgracefulness of my be- 
haviour. Well, two can play at that game. She 
will get something said about her that she won’t 
like, if she doesn’t mind.” 

Mimi divined aright. Mrs. Pattison was thus 
engaged. Only it was not a cat — there being no 
Toms of that species with whom she was discussing 
the waltzing widow at the moment ; it was William 


124 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Le Marchand, snatching a brief respite from social 
toil. 

‘‘An uncommonly pretty woman,” he had in- 
cautiously observed, echoing the current phrase, 
with the current feeling that there was no need to 
put a name to it. Unlike his brother, he wished 
Peggy had a little more of the same potent grace 
and charm. 

“ Do you think so ? ” Mrs. Pattison turned upon 
him, with lifted brows. 

“Why,” he stammered, “don’t you?” 

“ Perhaps I should,” she answered thought- 
fully, “ perhaps I should, if I did not know what 
I do about her.” 

“Oh, what’s that?” 

“ I will tell you. Only you must not repeat it, 
you know.” 

“ Of course not. A man does not repeat things 
about women.” 

“ Well — she ran away with a commercial trav- 
eller ” 

Mrs. Pattison got that far with the tale which 
she had already told five times that evening, when 
a stir in the hall, a sudden crystallization of scattered 
human atoms, checked her. “ What’s this ? ” said 
she, with a turn of her swan-like neck. 

“ I expect it is Pattison back,” replied Le Mar- 
chand, that being the thing which at the moment 
he dreaded most, because he wanted to escort her 
to the White Hart presently. 

It was not Pattison, but it was the report of his 


THE DEVASTATORS 


125 


mission, which every one, on hearing it, knew that 
he or she had been waiting for. It had come 
through the Dareham Chronicle office to the pro- 
prietor of that paper, who was at the ball; and the 
messenger had leaked at several points on the way. 
The news burst in the festive house, apparently 
from every mouth at once : 

“ Mr. Dallas is dead!’^ 

As if a bomb had exploded and killed it, 
festivity ceased. The band stopped. Harry Bed- 
ingfield and the widow looked into each other’s 
eyes for a dreamy instant, disentangled slowly with 
a thrilling “ Thank you,” and arm in arm returned 
to the close-packed hall, where nobody had leisure 
of mind to disapprove of them — not even Mrs. Pat- 
tison. To her the event just announced was of the 
utmost moment. Who would reign at Rumford 
now? And would he or she — the she a young 
dowager with whom strained relations might be 
expected — keep Ronald in his post as agent? 
These questions were not only paramount, but all- 
absorbing. 

Every one wanted to know what would happen 
now. The dead man had been a stranger person- 
ally, more or less, leaving no sense of loss behind 
him; the expectation of gain was evident and 
reasonable. By all the laws of probability that 
beautiful house would not be kept shut up and 
useless by two owners running. 

A general conversation, subdued but intense, 
held the guests together a little longer; then they 


9 


126 


THE DEVASTATORS 


dispersed quietly, looking forward to further in- 
teresting discussion of the matter in their homes 
and families. Mr. Le Marchand took Mrs. Patti- 
son to the White Hart, but nothing passed between 
them that Jane might not have listened to ; all their 
talk was of impending Rumford changes and 
Ronald’s position. Even Mimi Rochester was not 
to be lured from the all-fascinating theme. When 
Harry’s people had been left at their own door, and 
he was allowed to have sole charge of her thence to 
the rectory, he began to talk about their waltz to- 
gether, by way of improving the occasion. But 
she only said “ Yes ” vaguely, and wanted to know 
who was going to get Rumford now that Mr. Dallas 
was dead. He told her, shortly, that he did not 
know. When she put it to him that, as the estate’s 
solicitors, his firm should know if anybody did, he 
replied that, exactly because he was one of Mr. 
Dallas’s lawyers, he was bound to repeat advisedly 
that he did not know — that no one was likely to 
know for some time to come. 

But if there proves to be no direct heir,” she 
continued, understanding him, then who would 
inherit ? ” 

“ Then,” said Harry, “ Cecil Dallas, his brother, 
would come in.” He added, with a chuckle, 
“ What a lark ! ” 

“ Why is that a lark ? ” queried Mimi. 

“ Oh, he is such a cure, you know,” said Harry. 

“ How a cure ? ” 

“ Mad as a March hare, I believe. I don’t mean 


THE DEVASTATORS 


127 


really mad,” he corrected himself; “ I mean eccen- 
tric to a degree. Crazy about animals, and all that 
sort of thing.” 

Married or single ? ” 

“ Single, and likely to be, I should think. A 
regular hermit in his ways. Never looks at a 
woman, I am told ; won't have one near him.” 

“ Old or young? ” 

“ Old. At least, I conclude so, being Mr. Dal- 
las's brother. I don't remember to have ever seen 
him, myself. Peg — Miss Le Marchand — has, and 
she belauds him to the skies — gets into a regular 
scot if any of us presume to run him down. She 
says he is one of the finest fellows going. But then 
she is a bit touched herself with that animal fad. 
I’m sure she thinks we shall have the lot — fish, 
flesh, and fowl — in heaven with us. In fact, she 
says she won’t go there, not anywhere, without her 
dog, Thomas.” 

They had reached the rectory gate. And within 
the rectory Mrs. Chanter, dropping with fatigue, 
was listening for the click of the iron latch. 

“ Did I hear,” said Mrs. Rochester softly, “ that 
you were engaged to Miss Le Marchand ? ” 

Having slowly opened the gate and shut it, 
Harry admitted that he believed so. '‘Though,” 
he continued, “ I find it hard to realize the fact.” 

“ Oh, I think she is very nice,” said Mimi, with 
an air of magnanimity. 

" That you, Mrs. Rochester ? ” a voice called 
from the looming house. 


128 


THE DEVASTATORS 


The cat ! ” whispered Mimi. Good-night ! 

Harry pressed her hand in the shadow of the 
laurel hedges. “ Good-night/' he responded fer- 
vently. “ When shall I see you again ? 

“ Oh, come out to Rumford some day, won’t 
you? I shall be staying there for some time.” 

“ I will,” said he. 

They parted hastily. Harry watched her flutter 
into the house, heard the door shut and barred, 
waited for the gleam of her candle through her 
window-blind (it was Mrs. Chanter’s candle and 
window-blind, but that made no difference), and 
turned homeward, feeling that great things had 
been happening. 

“ Why,” he asked himself with a sigh that was 
almost a groan, “ why didn’t we meet a month 
ago?” 

But when all the champagne had evaporated, 
he thought again. And second thoughts are pro- 
verbially best. He had heard, on unimpeachable 
authority, that Mrs. Rochester had not one penny 
to rub against another; for which reason she had 
come again to live upon her aunt. Whereas Peggy 
Le Marchand was to have i 10,000 on her wedding 
day, apart from her almost unlimited expectations. 
Without being in the least degree mercenary, a man, 
when he was going to be married, was obliged to 
consider these things. 


CHAPTER X 


As anticipated, the question of the heirship to 
Rumford remained in abeyance for some time. 
Meanwhile the house stood empty, except for the 
caretakers, as before. And there was no sign of 
Dr. Dallas. All through the winter he was eagerly 
looked for, but less and less eagerly as the weeks 
passed, until at last that matter was left to work it- 
self out, and Dareham interest transferred tempo- 
rarily to things and persons nearer home. 

And of these the most important was Keith Mac- 
donald, and his taking over the practice of Dr. Mere- 
wether. Old Dr. Merewether died in December, 
at the time when Keith, at their urgent invitation, 
was spending Christmas with his old friends. The 
executors placed the practice for sale in the hands 
of the Bedingfields, and they, and the Le Mar- 
chands, and all their set and connections, combined 
to persuade the young man to buy it. He was 
young, but his credentials proved him clever; he 
was extremely plain, but that was no disadvantage 
in the profession, as Mr. Gordon Le Marchand 
very vividly pointed out ; a brief personal acquaint- 
ance seemed to establish the fact that he was a good 

129 


130 


THE DEVASTATORS 


fellow, apart from the asseverations of Peggy and 
her family, which had great weight ; and the financial 
part of the arrangement was easily adjustable — 
William Le Marchand answered for that. The ice 
once broken — i. e., the spectacle of Peggy engaged 
to another man being a trial survived without mis- 
hap and become resigned to — Dr. Macdonald was 
ready to fall in with the wishes of his friends. In- 
deed, he was even more anxious to stay than they 
were to keep him. Consequently, by February his 
brass plate was on Dr. MerewethePs old door; 
cards innumerable piled his hall table ; patients were 
coming in moderate numbers (for there was still 
Dr. Dickenson in Dareham) ; Mrs. Le Marchand 
was looking after his bed-linen and kitchen service, 
mother-like, and Peggy working him table-covers, 
tea cloths, mantel drapes, and such things, with the 
ardour of a devoted sister. 

Perhaps it was this business, occupying so much 
of her thoughts, which for a long while kept her 
indifferent to the proximity and proceedings of her 
rival — this, and her unsuspicious, unexacting nature, 
in which jealousy had never yet revealed itself. The 
fact was that Keith Macdonald, who seemed to have 
chosen Harry Bedingfield to be his special chum, 
knew a great deal more of what was going on than 
she did. Or, rather, he did not know, but guessed 
and feared. 

Peggy took after her mother. The womanliness 
in her did not run to sexual so much as to maternal 
and generally domestic passion. The romance of 


THE DEVASTATORS 


131 

her love-affair was sweet, and her affection for her 
chosen mate already rooted in that base of loyalty 
on which all her relationships were built, a faithful- 
ness to word or deed which defied any accident of 
life to shake it. But in the secret sanctuary of her 
heart the image of the future husband melted into, 
and was a little obscured by, those of the contingent 
children. One never knows until the time comes 
what the meaning of motherhood really is, but girls 
like Peggy have a very good idea beforehand. To 
nurse a baby had ever been a peculiar joy to her, 
and the prospect of having uncontrolled and perma- 
nent possession of one of her own at an early date 
was hardly ever out of her mind. It was the same 
with Mrs. Le Marchand. Interesting and dear to 
her as Harry became from the moment that he en- 
entered into partnership with the family, he was 
something of the nature of a cheque, the true value 
of which was that it could be cashed into grandchil- 
dren. Clandestinely, behind locked doors, she and 
her daughter had happy hours together, rummag- 
ing secret stores for fabrics that did not appear in 
the bridal trousseau. They whispered of the future 
like a pair of conspirators. And all Mrs. Le Mar- 
chand desired was that the young couple should 
come out to Australia and settle in Melbourne, 
whence Peggy and the children could make fre- 
quent visits to Kiewarara. Oh, we will, we will ! ” 
the mother-elect assured the potential granny, and 
already planned in her mind which room to make 
the nursery, and pictured herself taking the latest 


132 


THE DEVASTATORS 


infant for an airing in the beloved garden and 
paddocks, little toddlers running loose around 
her after dogs and butterflies. In thus providing 
for her anticipated family, she put no limit to its 
size. 

But to all outward appearances, of course, her 
sole concern was the lover, and the situation as it 
stood. It was so in fact, as much as it usually is 
with newly engaged girls, who, if they do not fore- 
cast their fate in one direction, do so in another. 
And she was not so insensible to the fine shades of 
sentiment as her tolerant ways and domestic tastes 
implied. When, upon one excuse and another, 
Harry allowed a solid week to elapse between two 
visits, and then appeared looking vaguely depressed 
and overcast, she noticed it. 

Since the night of the ball which celebrated their 
engagement, when the turning of the hall into a 
drawing-room proved such a success, the tenants 
had made a permanent sitting-room of it, a very 
pleasant one, and useful at the present time. Deep 
and soft were the rugs that padded the stone floor 
and the arm-chairs and divans upon them. Large 
and thick were the portieres and screens arranged 
to intercept draughts and too public observation. 
The fire, built upon Australian lines, was hardly 
ever let out, and the lovers and Thomas made the 
warm hearth their trysting place, to the comfort of 
the parents, thus left as free of their own house as 
usual. Also Harry could smoke there, when so dis- 
posed. Peggy was not fond of the smell of tobacco 


THE DEVASTATORS 


133 


upon her hair and clothes, but liked to see the pipe 
going; feeling, with that home-making instinct of 
hers, that a smoking man, like Pears’s baby, would 
never be quite happy till he got it, however happy 
he might have been before. 

Harry sat in his accustomed deep chair, puffing 
thoughtfully. Peggy stood on the other side of the 
hearth, leaning upon the mantel-shelf, quietly watch- 
ing him. She was marking the duration of a silence 
which he seemed unconscious of. Presently she 
said : 

'' What is the matter, Harry ? ” 

Matter ? ” he exclaimed, rousing himself with 
a start. 

“ You are bothered about something. That is 
plain to see.” 

I — no, I am not ; I am all right. What should 
I be bothered about ? ” The firelight showed his 
face flushed, his eyes unsteady. 

That is what I am asking,” she said, gently. 

I don’t want to poke into your affairs at all, but 
still — I should like to know.” 

He noticed then that she was standing, and 
got up to stand beside her. He put a perfunc- 
tory arm round her waist. “ What,” he repeated, 
forcing a gay tone, “should I be bothered about 
— now ? ” 

“ Oh, all right,” she returned ; “ then I must 
guess. Either you have some private worry of busi- 
ness, or you are not well, or you are simply bored 
— with me.” 


134 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ The idea ! ’’ He laughed quite naturally. 
“ When I am bored with you, madam — but what 
put that ridiculous notion into your head ? ” 

Light your pipe, at any rate,’’ said she, cheer- 
fully unsentimental. “ You are smoking it cold and 
empty.” 

“ It isn’t cold. Feel it ” — putting her finger on 
the bowl. 

“ It is not working, anyhow. And I hate to have 
things not working properly. Better be without 
them.” 

He laid the pipe on the chimneypiece, and 
seemed to prepare for love-making. 

“ Let us sit down here ” — meaning on the sofa 
behind them — “ and have a kiss. I haven’t had one 
for I don’t know when.” 

“ Whose fault is that? No, don’t make excuses. 
Goodness knows, I don’t want to keep you dangling 
after me all the time like a dog on a chain. I don’t 
believe in chains, you know. I am not complain- 
ing because you haven’t been to see me for a 
week ” 

“ It is not a week.” 

“ It is — but that’s neither here nor there. I 
don’t care if it is a month, if you’ve got business 
to attend to. Business first, pleasure afterward; 
there is no better rule. But — but — now, Harry, I 
want to say something ; I want to say something be- 
fore it is too late.” 

She still spoke in a matter-of-fact way, but a 
little thrill in her voice betrayed that it was an effort 


THE DEVASTATORS 


135 


to do so. He wanted to stop her going further, but 
could not think of the right thing to say ; so sat silent, 
leaning forward, hands dropped between his knees, 
and head down. With the point of his shoe he 
chafed the ribs of Thomas, who lay at his mistress’s 
feet, disregarding aught but her words, to which he 
seemed to listen earnestly. 

I know,” said she, “ that people have certain 
fixed ideas, which they can’t see have no reason in 
them. Even parents, who are generally old enough 
to have more sense, regard an engagement to be 
married as a most binding thing. They think it is 
quite disgraceful and dishonourable to enter into 
it, and then back out, as they call it. That is per- 
fect nonsense, you know. What is the reason of 
an engagement at all if it is not to be an experiment 
and a probation, to find out whether you really suit 
each other or not? You might as well be married 
straight off, to begin with. Quite as often as not, 
I suppose, we make a mistake in the hurry of the 
moment ; and my feeling is that, if you make a mis- 
take, it is a downright wicked, dishonest, disloyal 
thing not to say so and wnmake it, no matter what 
people may think of you. It is right to do it in any 
case, but in that case a thousand, thousand times 
more right and necessary. Both men and women, 
one just as much as the other. What embarrass- 
ments, what lies and cheatings, would be spared 
them! What untold miseries afterward! Don’t 
you agree with me, Harry? You and I are not 
bound by the sham rules of honour, but by 


THE DEVASTATORS 


136 

the real ones, by what our own hearts tell us 
is the straight thing. Isn’t that understood, 
dear ? ” 

He squirmed under the direct thrust, which he 
could not parry. He attempted to ask her, flip- 
pantly, what he had done — whether she had grown 
tired of him — some silly question that might put her 
off the track! but that thrill in her voice confused 
him. Instead, he slipped an arm around her — not 
altogether perfunctorily this time. At once, but 
very gently, she removed it, keeping his hand 
clasped on her lap. 

“ I know,” she said, that I am not much. I 
have no good looks, I am not clever — in fact, I am 
just as commonplace as I can be. And very likely 
you only fancied that you cared for me because 
there was no one else. And I have been thinking — 
I have been wondering during these last few days 
— O Harry, you would tell me, wouldn’t you? I 
should not mind. At least, I should not dream of 
blaming you — not for a single moment. There 
would be no talk of jilting, or any conventional non- 
sense of that sort, with me. It could be managed 
quietly, and people told to mind their own business 
if they started making remarks. If you are not 
quite, qtiite sure, tell me, Harry — before it is too 
late.” 

What could a man say in answer to so search- 
ing an appeal ? Whatever her misgivings as to his 
love for her, he had no doubt of the sincerity of 
hers for him. Her voice was full of it. And 


THE DEVASTATORS 


137 


voice was the one plain physical indication 
that she was what we call a lady born. It was 
not only sincere in every note, but musical and 
refined. The absence of any near lights but fire- 
light gave this charm of hers all its potency. And 
then the firelight effect in other ways was almost 
as good as that of summer moonlight, which in the 
affairs of lovers has so much to answer for. The 
warmth, the tranquil comfort, the rich glow of 
shadowed colour, the gleam of Peggy’s satin gown, 
the superadded feeling of having dined excellently — 
who can trace all, or any, of the springs of human 
conduct ? It is enough to say that no thought of the 
girl’s marriage portion and expectations controlled 
the young man’s actions at this crisis. He turned 
swiftly, put both arms round her, in such a way that 
she could not disengage them ; and he bade her kiss 
him, and not talk rot and rubbish, and declared on 
his sacred honour that she was the only woman he 
ever loved. 

She was so truthful herself that she believed him 
absolutely. And, the first little cloud between them 
being, as she thought, dispelled, she ceased at once 
to discuss it. She chatted with him brightly for an 
hour, played a new waltz to him on the hall piano 
while he had another pipe, mixed him a little toddy 
by the fireside, helped him on with his overcoat, and 
bade him good-night with a full heart. Unwontedly 
demonstrative, she placed her hands on his stooping 
shoulders, and lifted her confiding face. He held 
her and kissed her as a lover should — satisfactorily 


138 


THE DEVASTATORS 


to her, at any rate, who never had another kissing 
lover to compare with him. 

But, with his mouth on hers, he remembered the 
leaping blood, the flaming intoxication, of another 
meeting of lips — not pure like these — and felt his 
kiss turn cold and lifeless even as he gave it. The 
pernicious but magnetic Mimi Rochester held that 
outwork of the heart. She, with her beauty and her 
bewitching ways, with those lips that sent madness 
into the blood of wholesome men, was the poetry 
of life just now ; Peggy Le Marchand, whose shoes 
she was unworthy to unloose, was the prose. 

She went upstairs, singing, to her peaceful bed. 
Harry, restless, with his latch-key in his pocket, 
looked in upon Keith Macdonald, who always 
seemed glad, and sometimes eager, to see him. The 
young doctor seemed to know where the young 
lawyer had been, for when the preliminary rites of 
hospitality had been performed, his first question 
was : “ Well, and how are they all ? ’’ 

Harry said they were quite well. Then Keith, 
glancing sharply at his visitor — only there was no 
look of sharpness in his face, owing to the twisted 
eyebrow, which often misled people — asked, as 
Peggy had asked, whether anything was the matter. 
Harry gave the same answer, adding : “ I’m tired ; 
that’s all.” 

“ Overeaten yourself more likely,” said Keith, 
as he got his spirit stand. “ You can’t be tired. At 
least, I know I shouldn’t be tired if I’d had your 
job.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


139 


Oh, IVe been going all day, with one thing 
and another. And this damp weather takes the 
starch out of one somehow.'' 

“ Well, rest, poor fellow, from your arduous 
labours. Recruit yourself with whisky after the 
wasting fatigue of talking to the sweetest girl that 
ever walked. You ungrateful beast! " 

Smiling, Bedingfield lit his pipe afresh, put his 
feet upon the mantelpiece, and, despite his weariness, 
did not go to bed for several hours. He talked of 
whisky brands, of the excellence of Mrs. Le Mar- 
chand's dinners, of various local matters ; then he put 
a rather sudden question — such a question as a man 
may put to an intimate chum. 

Look here, Macdonald," he said, I want your 
opinion. Listen now, with an open mind and with- 
out prejudice — if you can — taking it as mere plain, 
elementary right and wrong. Supposing a fellow 
engaged himself to a girl, and afterward had reason 
to know that it was a mistake, and that to carry out 
the engagement would only be to make them both 
miserable for life " 

Hold hard," interrupted the doctor, lifting a 
hand. “ You are not, of course, speaking of your 
own case ? " 

“ Of course not," said Harry, hastily. “ Just an 
abstract " 

“ Of course, of course ! I beg your pardon. 
Well, supposing that position? " 

“ Supposing that position, is a man — a woman 
is, I know — ^justified — I mean justified by the 


140 


THE DEVASTATORS 


higher morality, not society morality — in telling her 
the truth? That means, doing a little violence to 
her feelings and his own at the time, to save her the 
greater, the incalculably greater violence that must 
otherwise be done to them later on. I have been 
hearing the point discussed, and the view was taken 
that he is not only justified, but under a sacred obli- 
gation of duty to tell her, before it is too late.” 

“ Who took that view ? Not a man. I’ll wager,” 
said Macdonald, coolly, as he blew smoke rings into 
the air. 

“ Never mind by whom it was taken. I want to 
know what your view is. We are not speaking of 
the expediency of the thing, you understand, but the 
simple, abstract morality of it.” 

“ Being a man,” said Keith, in a dry voice and 
with a wooden expression of face, “ my view is a 
diametrically opposite one. I hold that he is not 
justified by any morality, abstract or concrete, high 
or low.” 

‘^Not?” queried Harry, wistfully. 

Emphatically not.” 

“ Not if he finds out that she is a bad woman, 
who has been palming herself off on him as a good 
one? ” 

Ah ! ” ejaculated Keith, with changed look and 
tone, levelling eyes at his friend with embarrass- 
ing intentness. “ That is another pair of shoes. 
Though, even then, she would have to be very bad, 
and he very sure and certain of it. Was that the sort 
of case you had in your mind ? ” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


I4I 

“ No/’ confessed Harry. “ No, it wasn’t. The 
case I was thinking of — the case I heard discussed — 
was just the ordinary case.” 

Yes. Well, I hold that he is not justified.” 

“ Why?” 

“ I can’t tell you why. He isn’t.” 

“ Oh, but this is not argument, you know.” 

“ My dear fellow, the question does not admit of 
argument. A man has to do what a woman expects 
of him. If he has made a mistake, that’s his look- 
out, not hers. Ten chances to one he hasn’t made a 
mistake, unless he chooses to think so. He simply 
must not allow himself to think so.” 

“ But if he has — if he knows he has — and if she 

would have to suffer for it ” 

Why should she suffer for it ? What business 
has he to let her suffer for it? He can help that, at 
any rate. He’s a villain and a cad if he doesn’t.” 

“ Can he — if he doesn’t love her ? ” 

“ But he’s got to love her,” cried Keith Mac- 
donald, with the air of a badgered animal beginning 
to lash around with his tail. “ He must love her ! ” 

At this Harry Bedingfield threw back his hand- 
some head, and sent a laugh up to the ceiling with 
his curls of smoke. “ Oh, you blessed innocent ! ” 
he murmured, “ what a lot you know of love ! ” 

Macdonald did not look an innocent exactly, and 
certainly not a subject for merriment. His rough- 
hewn visage was set and stern ; his eyes were filled 
with smouldering wrath. “Perhaps,” said he, 
“ what I mean is duty. Perhaps what you mean is 


10 


142 


THE DEVASTATORS 


not love, but the other thing. Terms don’t matter. 
It is a case of manhood against womanhood ” 

“ Oh, not against! ” 

Yes — because they are not in the same boat. 
Women may talk of their rights and equalities — it is 
just talk ; men are responsible for them, in spite of 
all, and must act accordingly. Sounds old-fash- 
ioned, I know, but — well, you asked for my opinion, 
and I can only give it.” 

It was useless for Harry to speak of the letter and 
the spirit, of being falsely true, and so on. All the 
logic in the world could not shake Keith from his 
position. A man might be justified a thousand 
times over, he declared ; it might be the enlightened 
thing, the truly moral, the absolutely right ; all the 
same, if he was a real man, he could not do it. 
Something inside him — evidently the final authority 
with this simple-minded fellow — forbade the very 
thought. 

“ You know as well as I do,” said he, with a rea- 
sonable air, trying to calm an exciterhent which he 
could see surprised his friend, “that /if you — no, I 
won’t insult you by saying yon — if I did it — only I 
can’t imagine myself doing it — I should feel too 
mean to live. I should never have a particle of 
respect for myself again.” 

After this, whenever Harry Bedingfield had incli- 
nation toward freedom, either Peggy or Keith Mac- 
donald seemed to barricade his path. Again and 
again his fiancee insisted on the necessity of abso- 
lute candour in love, on her horror of the idea of 


THE DEVASTATORS 


143 


keeping a man in bondage to his word, implying her 
willingness and even desire to release him at any 
moment he felt “ not quite, quite sure ” ; but every 
time she did so, that something inside him to which 
Macdonald had alluded impelled him to perjure 
himself to reassure her. Because the unselfishness 
of her motive was unmistakable. She could never 
manage to persuade him that she wanted to be 
released herself. 

And Macdonald, to whom he had grown accus- 
tomed to open his mind, would no longer discuss the 
subject as one man to another. He seemed to take 
the ground that it was sacred. A fellow with such a 
foolish face was not suspected of an artfulness that 
could fathom what it all meant, but still he behaved 
as if he thought himself called upon to stand guard 
over Peggy’s interests. In speaking of her to him, 
Harry had the feeling more and more that he was 
speaking to her brother, and not to an ally of his 
own. 


CHAPTER XI 

Cecil Dallas, LL. D., was legal owner of 
Rumford, beyond dispute. 

Even when the matter was quite decided, he 
did not come at once. Peggy wrote to her Aunt 
Harriet to inquire why, and Aunt Harriet was 
obliged to write back that she did not know; but 
she telegraphed subsequently to say that strenuous 
efforts had brought out the fact that he had gone 
to Italy to confer with his brother’s widow. 

“ Oh, I know ! ” lamented Peggy, vexed to the 
point of stamping her foot. “He has gone to give 
her everything. Just like him! Exactly what I 
should have expected if I had thought about it for 
a moment.” 

“ Don’t you believe it,” said Dareham, laughing 
at her. “ A man coming in for a splendid property 
does not treat his luck in that way.” 

“ You people would not,” she uncivilly retorted. 
“ Nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand 
would not. But he is exceptional He does not 
care about splendid properties. His thoughts are 
set on higher things.” 

Fortunately, Mr. Bedingfield was able to assure 


144 


THE DEVASTATORS 


145 


the anxious ones that Dr. Dallas had no more power 
to give away Rumford than they had. And pres- 
ently there were talks at kitchen doors of orders 
to tradesmen from the Rumford housekeeper, of the 
arrival of unknown men with dogs, of an urgent 
summons to carpenters; gossip which, filtering to 
her ears, indicated to the delighted Peggy that her 
friend was at hand. His presence was announced 
in a note from Mrs. Pattison inviting the Le Mar- 
chand family to an informal dinner to meet him. 

“ It was to have been just the elder Bedingfields 
and ourselves,” wrote she, “ with perhaps Mr. and 
Mrs. Miles ; rather to talk over business in a quiet 
way than for entertainment, since he is not going 
into society at present. I ask you, with your hus- 
band and daughter, because I find he knows the 
latter and seems to have the wish to meet her again. 
Every other soul in the place is a stranger to him, 
and I can see already that he is shy and unsocial 
from living so much alone. I hope she will not 
mind coming out, for once, without her young man. 
She will make us an even number at table, and be 
a great help to me if she can get our squire to talk 
and enjoy himself. Even I (between ourselves) 
find that a pretty difficult thing to do.” 

Of course, of course ! ” said William Le Mar- 
chand, who, having taken the letter from the par- 
lourmaid’s tray and read it, forgot to hand it to 
the person it was addressed to. Write immedi- 
ately, Peg, and tell her you accept with pleasure, 
for us all.” 


146 


THE DEVASTATORS 


I do/^ said Peggy. “ For once I can be polite 
and truthful at the same time. I am delighted to 
accept an invitation to meet him — should be wher- 
ever it came from.” 

And the next evening she went to dress with 
a gay heart, although her father had vetoed a sug- 
gestion that Thomas might join the party, to show 
his fine, strong leg to his doctor. And she gave 
pains to her toilet, as if it were Harry she was dress- 
ing for. Let me see now,” she reflected aloud to 
Thomas, with her to the last moment ; I don’t 
wish to enter into competition with Mrs. Rochester, 
but I think black is our appropriate wear to-night ; 
eh, my dear? And it also has the advantage of ton- 
ing down that hue which a rude man of our ac- 
quaintance likens to a ripe tomato. Also of set- 
ting off our neck beautifully. There is one thing, 
Thomas, that she can’t beat us in — our neck.” 

As a picture of health and wholesomeness, of 
simple good taste and good form, Peggy, when she 
entered Mrs. Pattison’s drawing-room, would have 
been hard to beat. The black net gown with the 
jet sprinklings was London-made, and full of style 
in its modest plainness. The smooth, warm white 
neck — her one vanity; because, as she would say, 
she had so little else to be proud of — was a lily un- 
painted, as ever on these occasions. A pearl comb 
and her engagement ring were her only ornaments. 
Had there been a roomful of young men, not one 
would have said, on seeing her come in, What a 
pretty girl ! ” They would have said, or felt. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


14; 

** What a nice girl ! ” The common phrase was 
“ awfully nice/’ when there had been time to think 
about it. 

The new squire of Rumford looked up through 
his spectacles, and simply beamed upon her. With 
her hand still in Mrs. Pattison’s, her eyes made hur- 
ried search round the room, found that friendly 
gaze, and beamed back with such cordiality that 
the hostess said, to herself : Oh, I see ; she is 
going to set her cap at him, in spite of poor Harry.” 
Being a pretty woman, Mrs. Pattison was up to all 
these dodges of her sex. This was why she had 
carefully barred Mrs. Rochester from her dinner — 
why she was prepared for an exhausting campaign 
against that lady’s inevitable wiles ; a plan which 
the widow also divined beforehand and was plotting 
to circumvent. 

The Le Marchands were late. Rumford stable 
clock struck Mrs. Pattison’s dining hour ere the 
carriage had passed the big house, and all the out- 
lying colony of dairy, laundry, poultry, and brew- 
houses, beyond which lay the agent’s modest man- 
sion; so Mr. Le Marchand entered the latter hot 
from a vigorous denunciation of the long-suffering 
Jane, for never, as he averred, having been punctual 
in an engagement during the whole course of her 
life. The poor lady waddled in, still amiably, and 
able to enjoy the pleasure of meeting one who had 
been kind to her child. 

“ I already,” she began, '' know you well 
through my dear daughter ” But in the midst 


148 


THE DEVASTATORS 


of her warm handshake, warmly returned, she was 
hustled by her husband into the charge of her 
host. When all were seated at table she occu- 
pied the place of honour, looking very nice. Dr. 
Dallas thought, in her black velvet and spreading 
lace, with that kind, homely, Peggy-like face. 
Peggy was opposite to him, and not by his side, 
where he had hoped to have her. But the flowers 
being low, the line of communication was open be- 
tween his beaming spectacles and her happy gray- 
green eyes. If Mrs. Pattison had expected to mo- 
nopolize him, she was disappointed. 

“ How are they ? ” Peggy inquired, merely with 
motions of her mouth. Dr. Dallas in dumb show 
indicated that all was well, and at the same time 
not as well as could be wished. Quite a dialogue 
was carried on in this way, and the hostess said to 
herself that, really, she might almost as well have 
invited Mrs. Rochester. It did not please her at all 
to have the gaze and interest of her lord and cavalier 
continually drawn from her by a person whose posi- 
tion in the company was that of stop-gap. She 
bristled under her fixed smile. 

Even William Le Marchand, on her other hand, 
was slightly inattentive, being called to a considera- 
tion of men’s business in life, always and rightly of 
more importance to them than their women friends 
like to think. Questioned by Dr. Dallas about the 
fauna of Australia, he held forth eloquently upon 
many subjects that he personally understood. 

“ You see, my dear sir,” he addressed the squire 


THE DEVASTATORS 


149 


of Rumford, what great results from little causes 
spring. A Scotchman has a fancy to grow a thistle, 
to remind him of his native land, and New Zealand 
is laid waste. An Englishman, actuated by the 
same worthy motive, thinks it would be nice to 
have a little coursing now and then, and the popula- 
tion of a continent is eaten out of house and home. 
I declare to you, sir, that I spend thousands annu- 
ally in trying to keep the rabbits down, and then 
can’t do it. It is like the sea and Mrs. Parting- 
ton’s broom. Some day — and before very long, 
too — we shall be drowned out altogether. Aus- 
tralia will be as bare as the mountains of the 
moon.” 

“ Yes,” said Peggy. And I expect it will be 
the same with England in course of time. She, too, 
will be devoured by her little people — vermin, as 
you call them.” 

“ Nonsense,” snapped her father, and the com- 
pany generally regarded the remark as stupid. 

“ I foresee,” she said, oracularly, “ that some day 
England will be like the mountains of the moon 
with snow all over them.” 

The only person to understand her was Dr. 
Dallas. Mrs. Pattison caught another interchange 
of glances that she was not able to read. This 
time the squire’s expression was such that Peggy’s 
fell from gay to grave ; the former shook his head, 
and the latter raised her eyebrows. 

Now,” said the hostess to herself, I shall lose 
him to that forward minx if I don’t be careful. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


150 

Neither of them has the faintest notion of man- 
ners.” 

She lost them for the evening, to begin with, 
in spite of all her care. In the garden, where the 
men joined the ladies after dinner, her eye was 
off them for a moment, and they were gone. 

It was spring-time now — a rare, clear, golden 
dusk — a night of nights for friends or lovers. These 
two friends, who knew each other so much better 
than there seemed warrant for, were enticed by it 
further and further afield, following the twitter of 
nesting birds, the scurry of a trespassing hare, the 
note of a hidden nightingale who had just got his 
long-practised song perfect — those little voices of 
the under-world for which so few have ears. There 
was a moon coming up, and the air smelt of hay, 
freshly cut, and hedgerow honeysuckle and syringa 
bushes. Peggy was warm in a fur-lined wrap. 
Her companion had lost the habit of dinner 
parties. In short, they both forgot they were 
at one. 

“ And what did you do with them ? ” Peggy 
asked. 

“ I turned the room into a lethal chamber,” 
was the sad reply. “ Stopped all the crevices, and 
charged it with narcotic vapour — as they do at Bat- 
tersea. I went up there to study the working of 
the system. It is a blessed invention. The little 
things never felt their fate; nor my poor old dogs 
and some other creatures that I put in afterward. 
But 7 felt it horribly.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


15I 

“ That I know you did/’ thrilled Peggy, in her 
deepest voice. 

I patted them and spoke to them, and they 
wagged their poor old tails; and then they went 
comfortably to sleep, without a bitter thought of 
their old master — without having their hearts 
wrung at the last moment ” 

Yes,” sniffed Peggy, blowing her nose upon 
Brussels lace, not intended for such a purpose. 

Only, of course, those that would have been 
miserable — too old for change, too decrepit to en- 
joy their life with me any longer — and the rats. 
My merry little rats ! But they were really on the 
way to rival your father’s rabbits. Do you know 
that I used buckets to gather them up in ? I buried 
them myself. I was ashamed to let even my confi- 
dential man, old William, know how I had let 
myself be imposed upon.” 

'' You must not keep rats again.” 

“ No, but I am going to keep a lethal chamber 
and crematorium at Rumford for emergencies. I 
have already given the order. It will be a great 
palliative. Mind, if you see or hear of anything 
that ought to be killed ” 

Oh, I will— I will!” 

This will be a delightful place for the creatures 
when they settle down. Did you hear the men at 
dinner talking about the game preserves? I did 
not say anything, but I am going to stop that. 
There must be a little shooting, I suppose, but I 
shall make a republic of my woods and fields — sane- 


152 


THE DEVASTATORS 


tuary for all. No nailing of owls and moles on barn 
doors! No persecution of anything that has life, 
except where it preys unduly upon the life of others. 
They will fight with each other; but, after all, it is 
their world. Our gods don’t come down and tram- 
ple round among us, wringing our necks and 
crunching us under their boot heels. And, per- 
haps, even the shrikes and cuckoos have their moral 
uses in the community.” 

Leaning upon a gate at the limit of the agent’s 
private grounds, they looked upon the fringe of 
yards and buildings out of which the gables and 
clustered chimneys of the great house towered like 
Windsor Castle above its town. The brightening 
moonlight separated roof from roof, until Dr. Dallas 
was able to point out to his companion where some 
of his architectural changes were a-making — the 
place destined for the lethal chamber and crema- 
torium, for the veterinary work, for the kennels 
of the outdoor dogs, etc. 

How I would like to see them ! ” sighed 
Peggy. 

*‘Well, come over and have a peep.” 

Is it far? Would it take long?” 

“ Not more than a few minutes. What about 
your shoes ? ” 

“ Oh, they don’t matter ; the ground is quite 
dry — for England.” 

He opened the gate softly, and they passed 
through; but before they could shut it a gay call 
arrested them. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


153 


“ Where are you going, you people ? ” 

It was Mrs. Pattison, with the remainder of the 
company ; and they had to explain that they were 
going to look at a view. 

“We will come too,’' said she. “ It is a shame 
not to be out on such a night.” 

The others agreed with her, even Mr. Miles 
with his rheumatism. Anything to be near enough 
to the new potentate to pour some of their store 
of good advice into his ear — that too careless ear, 
They set off in couples to see the view — of the 
stable tower, which was venerable, precious, and 
really looked very sweet with the moon shining 
through the bell turret. They barely glanced at 
the new carpenters’ work, those little bedrooms of 
the humbler members of the household, but 
streamed into the successive gardens, by way of 
yew-tree alleys and tunnels dark as Erebus, and 
scattered upon the moon-white terraces and terrace 
stairs. The adventure spirit grew with what it 
fed on. 

“ Suppose,” the hostess suggested, “ we get Dr. 
Dallas to take us inside and show us the effect 
of those painted windows in the great hall by moon- 
light?” 

An inspiration of an idea! And the way it 
worked out surpassed expectation. Ten o’clock at 
night found a comfortable little group, including 
the rheumatic one, gossiping cosily round the 
housekeeper’s fire, and two smaller groups — small 
as groups could be, each led by an instructed guide 


154 


THE DEVASTATORS 


— wandering through the vast maze of chambers 
and corridors, all enjoying themselves excessively. 
The wanderers carried candles to light them 
through dark places, and blew them out at such 
times as fine moonlight effect presented itself. 

When the housekeeper, who started the expedi- 
tion, put his candle into her lord’s hands, she made 
excuses for expected discoveries of decay and dis- 
order in the long-closed portions of the house. 

“ I have done my best, sir,” said she, “ but rooms 
that are not lived in can’t be kept up like rooms 
that are ; and there are too many of them here for 
me to manage with the little help I have been 
allowed. The moths, they get in under the holland 
covers somehow, no matter what you do; and the 
birds come down the chimneys and make a fright- 
ful mess. As for the rats, they will scare the ladies. 
I’m afraid; but we have been trapping them, and 
getting cats and terrier dogs to them, and laying 
poison for them, so that the whole place smells of 
their dead bodies under the floors and behind the 
wainscots.” At which Dr. Dallas and Peggy looked 
at each other with comical despair of being able 
to cope with everything. 

“ And not much chance of improvement, I am 
afraid,” Mrs. Diggles confided to her older friends 
gathered in her sitting-room, which had more at- 
tractions for them than draughty passages and toil- 
some stairs. “ He is a very nice gentleman — you 
could not wish a nicer — but has no more idea of 
keeping up a great house than the babe unborn. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


155 


Doing away with the pigs shows what we may 
expect. To be sure, there were only two ; but with 
the house lived in as it should be, and company 
coming and going, the refuse from kitchen and 
dairy, not to speak of the garden, would be wasted 
on a score. I remember my father telling me that 
in old Squire Dallas's time " 

And so on. 

He wants a wife," said Mrs. Bedingfield from 
the inglenook, where she sat toasting her dampened 
feet, her skirt turned carefully over her knees. A 
good, clever, managing wife." 

All agreed that this was the crying need, pro- 
vided no mistake were made in the selection of 
the lady. 

“ If a dear girl of our acquaintance were not 
already bespoken " Mrs. Miles hinted archly. 

“ Oh, no," said Peggy's mother, not aware that 
her “ no " voiced the sentiments of the majority, 
to whom a red-haired colonial young person was 
certainly not among the eligibles. “ I should not 
like to think of a daughter of mine in such a great, 
lonesome barracks of a place. There would be no 
making what I call a home of it, to my mind. And 
Peggy is all for her home, like me." 

“ Indeed," said Mrs. Diggles, there is not a 
more beautiful home in the land than Rumford 
when it is lived in. A princess might be glad to 
be its mistress. One hundred servants, Mrs. Le 
Marchand — that is the staff when we are all here; 
Mr. Bedingfield will bear me out. Thirty in the 


THE DEVASTATORS 


156 

house, men and women together, and full twenty 
in the gardens; a dozen or more in the stables, 
and then all the game-keepers, lodge-keepers, 
blacksmiths, masons, carpenters, men to look after 
the woods and the park roads and the water pipes, 
and I don’t know what all ” 

“ Yes,” Mr. Bedingfield took up the tale when 
she ran out of breath ; “ all that, Mrs. Diggles, and 
more. I know the wages’ bill did not leave much 
out of four thousand pounds. And that is since 
we have economized, with half the house shut. In 
the present squire’s grandfather’s time the expenses 
were double and treble. But he outran the con- 
stable.” 

“ Well,” Mrs. Le Marchand commented, as she 
slowly fanned herself — she was too fat to enjoy a 
hot room — “ well, if you ask me. I’d sooner live 
in a slab shanty and do my own work.” 

Poor Jane, as her sister said, never had any 
pride. It was patent to her present companions, 
liking her as they all did, that she was incapable 
of grasping the bearings of the case. 

“ Some of those men ” — Mr. Bedingfield ad- 
dressed Mr. Pattison — “ should be got back without 
loss of time. The roads should be mended before 
winter, and the gardens done up, and that drainage 
by the fish-pond ” 

I know. I am trying to catch hold of him 
to show him round and go into the whole thing. 
He will have to plank down a tidy sum for roofs, 
to start with ” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


157 


“ And, talking of roofs,’’ Mr. Miles struck in, 
“ I want to show him the state of those cottages 
in the lane ” 

“ If you gentlemen would like to have a cigar,” 
said Mrs. Diggles, “ I am sure I don’t mind in the 
very least, if the other ladies are agreeable.” 

Oh, do,” Mrs. Le Marchand seconded her. 

I never feel happy if I don’t see men com- 
fortable.” 

Mrs. Bedingfield protested that, in a general 
way, she had a weakness for pure air in rooms and 
the right things in the right places; but she was 
very gracious (ruminating upon schemes for bring- 
ing Dr. Dallas and her daughter Myra together), 
and ready to be swayed by the spirit of the occa- 
sion. After some polite reluctance the men found 
pipes and cigarettes — including Mr. Miles, whose 
brother Chanter was not there to be shocked ; and 
then, when they were entirely comfortable, they 
plunged into plans for the education of the squire 
with such zest that time slipped away unheeded. 
The same with the ladies, grouped about their 
temporary hostess, sipping her excellent mulled 
elderberry wine. They lost themselves in remi- 
niscences of Rumford’s glorious past and their vari- 
ous conjectures as to what its future was likely 
to be. 

So the wanderers wandered unmolested. And 
when they tired of sight-seeing they rested wher- 
ever they might happen to be. Dr. Dallas and 
Peggy sat for long on the gallery that overlooked 


II 


158 


THE DEVASTATORS 


the great hall — a cave of darkness, with a moon 
finger here and there, touching a star of swords, 
a boss of metal, the pale patch of a painted face ; 
and here, for the first and last and only time, the 
author disclosed the scheme of his great book — 
a work that he hoped would lay a foundation for a 
wholly new social arrangement. The Common- 
wealth of Life — that was its title. Peggy was not 
slow to grasp the hint it gave, and ever after the 
plan, as then unfolded to her, was her cherished 
dream of dreams. 

“Yes,” she breathed, from a full heart, “we 
can possess the earth and subdue it, and still — and 
still ” 

“ And still emancipate these poor slaves from 
their irresponsible tormentors,” said he, picking up 
a little dog whose ears and tail had been cropped 
short, a waif from the unknown which had somehow 
found him out and followed him. 

Far into the night it was when the two strayed 
couples met again — in another gallery. Dr. Dallas 
walked holding a lighted candle above Peggy’s 
head, Mr. Le Marchand walked holding another 
over Mrs. Pattison’s. The latter experienced per- 
son smelt a rat that was not under the floor, nor 
yet behind the wainscot. 

“ My friend,” said she, “ that is evidently a 
case.” 

“ Pooh ! ” the friend returned. “ He is twice 
her age.” 

“ Nevertheless, it is a case. I know.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


159 


“ And, besides, she’s booked.” 

“ P ossibly the book will show an erasure 
shortly.” 

Oh, no — no such luck.” 

“ What do you bet ? ” 

A hundred pounds to a shilling — ^that she won’t 
do the erasing anyhow. That’s not Peggy.” 

** Done. And don’t you forget, mind.” 

The speaker swept forward to meet a flushed- 
face girl. 

Oh, you bad child ! ” she gaily admonished 
her. “ What a dance you have been leading us ! 
Have you any idea of the awful time that it is? 
And of what my other guests must be thinking of 
me ? Where have you been ? ” 

Her voice and Peggy’s died away in space. The 
master of the house dropped behind with the dis- 
concerted parent. 

I hear,” said Dr. Dallas, after a silent march 
toward one of the twelve staircases, that your 
daughter is engaged to young Bedingfield. It was 
quite a surprise to me. I hope — I hope you feel 
satisfied with the prospect — that you think the 
young man one who will make her happy ? ” 

“ Oh, I think so,” replied the other, inwardly 
raging at an accident which could have been fore- 
seen, and for which he was going to blame Jane 
in round terms presently. “ He seems a decent 
sort of young fellow enough.” 

From what I know of your daughter,” the 
gentle squire continued, after another long pause, 


i6o 


THE DEVASTATORS 


‘‘ she deserves — er — er— some one who — er — can 

appreciate her worth ” 

Yes/' said Le Marchand shortly, his attention 
distracted by the distant swish of silk. “ But we 
don't all get what we deserve, worse luck ! " 

Mrs. Le Marchand was tucking up " Peggy 
that night — she tucked up any child under her 
roof, and even her arbitrary William could not 
break her of the foolish habit — when the girl ex- 
claimed, almost with tears : 

“ Oh, mother, when he marries — as he must — 
as everybody says he must — oh, I do hope he will 
get somebody who can understand him ! " 


CHAPTER XII 


The boys were having midsummer holidays, 
and they were out with Keith. They called upon 
him daily, much to his inconvenience at times, and, 
when he had the leisure for it, he entertained them 
with his best. They were Peggy’s brothers. 

To-night it was a river excursion. They were 
ambitious to distinguish themselves in their school 
boats, and he was giving them a little private coach- 
ing and practice. Certain emblazoned oars and 
rudders that he had at home witnessed to his qualifi- 
cations for the task. 

Summer it was, with the long daylight of Eng- 
lish summers. So, after tea, they were able to row 
for an hour, and still have leisure to sit on the 
bank for a yarn and a rest before rowing for another 
hour, back to Dareham and bed. Keith indulged 
in a pipe, and the boys in one of those confidential 
talks with him that always made them happy. Old 
Keith,” fellow countryman and neighbour born, 
understood many things which others — not only the 
schoolmates whose noses had been bashed, but per- 
sons like Dr. Dallas, who otherwise seemed to know 
everything and was writing a book — were incapable 
of comprehending. 


i6i 


THE DEVASTATORS 


162 


They had just returned from a visit to Dare- 
ham, and had to tell him about the animals, about 
the secret passages and hiding holes, about the 
lethal chamber (most interesting of all), and the 
kind host, who had also treated them as Peggy's 
brothers, and the kind housekeeper who had be- 
grudged them nothing. Then somehow they fell 
into the sort of gossip peculiar to the seasoned 
scandal-monger. Philip, who was a handsome 
lad, and went in for dignity as a Le Marchand, 
destined to represent the family at Dorlcote some 
day, was clearly smitten with Mrs. Pattison, who 
seemed to have shown him considerable attention — 
as his father’s boy.” He said it was perfectly 
horrid of Mrs. Rochester to say that Mrs. Pattison 
was too thick with Dr. Dallas. 

Modest Keith was thinking what prudent com- 
ment he could make upon so improper an observa- 
tion, when he was further disconcerted by Jerry, 
who opined that Mrs. Pattison was not too thick 
with Dr. Dallas, because Dr. Dallas saw to that, 
but that she only tried to be. Tries all she 
knows,” said the freckled redhead, whom no one 
would have credited with any knowledge of such 
matters. 

“ If it was the other way, now,” retorted Phil, 
‘‘ you might talk. Mrs. Pattison says it makes her 
ill to see Mrs. Rochester always after him.” 

“ Like her cheek ! She is simply green with 
jealousy because he thinks more of Mrs. Rochester 
than he does of her.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


1^3 

He doesn’t.” 

“ He does.” 

“ Bet you he doesn’t.” 

“ Well, you watch him next time. He smiles 
at her all right, and keeps very polite, but you 
can see him drawing in and getting stiff in- 
side ” 

Inside — haw! You are mighty clever if you 
can see into people’s insides.” 

“ I don’t care. I know he doesn’t like her best. 
You ask him.” 

“ I will,” said Philip, ‘‘ but I know he does. He 
couldn’t help it.” 

Then Keith got his breath. He gave them a 
little lecture, short and sharp, upon the manners and 
customs of gentlemen. While they listened, they 
maintained their respective positions firmly. As 
soon as he had done they resumed the engagement, 
making him participate. 

‘‘ Now, look here, Keith,” the elder argued, you 
know Mrs. Pattison. And isn’t what father says 
quite true ” 

That’s not the point, is it, Keith? ” Jerry inter- 
jected. 

“ Don’t ask me,” said Keith, severely. ‘‘ I am 
not so impertinent as to discuss ladies behind their 
backs. I know better.” 

“ But, Keith,” Phil insisted, you talk about gen- 
tlemen — do you think it gentlemanly to sit there and 
hear a lady insulted ? ” 

Two ladies, I believe ? ” 


164 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Oh, I am only standing up for what I think if 
right for a gentleman to stand up for — especially 
when she has been so kind to us/’ 

“ Kind ! ” spluttered Gerald, with a grimace of 
disgust. “ Keith, would you think it kind if she 
flopped her arms round your neck and slobbered 
you over before people ? ” 

Keith signified that he would emphatically. 

Well, then I don’t,” rejoined Jerry, with heat. 
‘'And Mrs. Biggies feels as I do. She says it’s a 
shame with a fellow of my age. So it is. But she 
won’t do it again — I know that.” 

" Mrs. Biggies is a very nice woman,” said Phil, 
" but she must have something nasty to say about 
Mrs. Pattison, if she gets the chance. Just spite, 
because she doesn’t like her.” 

“ Aha ! There you are. That’s another. And 
why doesn’t she like her ? ’Cause she knows her too 
well.” 

“ Because she don’t like Mrs. Pattison to give 
her advice,” corrected Phil. 

“And quite right, too; isn’t she, Keith? Mrs. 
Pattison has nothing to do with the inside of the 
house. She thought she’d get in and manage things 
over Mrs. Biggies’s head when Br. Balias came; 
but she finds herself mistaken.” 

“ The fate of the benefactor,” remarked Keith. 
“ People never have taken good advice in this 
world, and never will.” 

“ It wasn’t good advice, when Mrs. Biggies 
knows a lot better than what she does.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 165 

*‘An uneducated housekeeper with more taste 
than a refined lady ! ” scoffed Phil. 

“ I didn’t say anything about taste,” Jerry 
argued. When it comes to taste, Mrs. Diggles 
doesn’t put herself forward at all — like with those 
carpets, you remember. She let the ladies do as 
they liked. But look here, my boy, which of the 
ladies was it that did the choosing? Ha, ha ! That 
shows.” 

She simply bothered him into it.” 

“ Oh, yes ! And who tried to bother him about 
the yew hedges, and couldn’t ? ” 

“ That was because he wanted the hedges for his 
pets.” 

“ Boys ! Boys ! ” growled Keith, “ you ought 
to have been charwomen. It is high time you left 
off having holiday visits and went back to school.” 
He was really concerned to perceive these mere 
children already within the “ sphere of influence ” 
so fatal to grown men. But his own human curiosity 
to hear particulars of the carpet incident held him 
from the peremptory action that he knew he ought 
to take. 

You know,” said Phil, “ the old carpet in the 
library ? It was pretty bad, and he had it taken up, 
and there’s the bare boards now, and he says he likes, 
that best. Of course it looks horrid, and Mrs. Dig- 
gles wanted him to have another to go all over, 
handsome and comfortable, and not like a barrack 
place. So did Mrs. Pattison — she said Turkey. 
But I know he was thinking of the dogs’ muddy paws 


THE DEVASTATORS 


1 66 

and fleas, and he said he would only have a hearth- 
rug that would take up and shake, and something 
under the table to put his feet on when he was writ- 
ing his book. And so that artful little Mrs. Roch- 
ester 

“ That— who?” 

‘‘ Well, she twigged at once what would please 
him, and she said ‘ Rugs, of course,’ and had him 
send to some place in London that she knew of, and 
when they came she picked out the ones to keep, 
just as if they were for herself. We were all there, 
but she would not let anybody else have a say in it.” 

“ Who were ‘air?” 

“ Us, Dr. Dallas, Mrs. Diggles, her, her aunt, 
Mrs. Pattison ” 

“ And Harry,” chimed in Phil. 

“ Harry ! ” exclaimed Keith. “ What was he 
doing there ? Oh, of course ! He is the Rumford 
man of business.” 

“ No ; that’s his father. I don’t think Dr. Dallas 
cares for Harry very much. He likes the old man 
best.” 

“ Is Harry staying at Rumford ? ” 

“ Oh, no. He came from the rectory with Mr. 
Miles and Mrs. Rochester. He is a great pal of Mrs. 
Rochester’s, Harry is. They used to know each 
other when they were children.” 

“ When they were children,” said Phil, “ they 
used to fight like cat and dog. Well, they don’t do 
that now, at any rate. Tell you what, Keith, if it 
wasn’t for Peg, I believe ” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


167 

“ Rot ! ’’ Jerry interjected angrily. That’s an- 
other of your precious Mrs. Pattison’s nasty hints. 
Mrs. Rochester told me herself that Harry was just 
like her own brother.” 

Keith rose suddenly to his feet. 

“ Come,” said he, shortly, “ it is time we were 
getting back.” 

The moon had risen while they talked. There 
was no light of day except on the open spaces of the 
river ; under the bank they had to fumble for ropes 
and oars. The boys settled themselves on the 
thwarts, braced their feet, and bent to the task before 
them with a sporting energy that absorbed them. 
Their coach held the rudder lines, and as steersman 
scanned the dim shores on either side, while he medi- 
tated silently. 

Peggy was the theme of his meditations. More 
or less, she always was. He was one of the rare 
men who start life with an ideal of love, as a rule 
hopelessly high, and — allowing for the force of 
nature, against which the individual contends in 
vain — makes it a matter of religion to be forever 
faithful to it. In his case, doubtless, the plainness 
of his person, as much as his austerity and fastidious- 
ness of taste, had helped him to keep his image of 
woman undegraded through those fiery early years 
in which the pressure of the conventions of civiliza- 
tion are most nearly intolerable. He was now, 
though not yet thirty, a mature man, aged by the 
severity of his secret warfare ; and in one sense the 
worst was over. In another, the worst had come. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


1 68 

and come to stay; he had but just resigned himself 
to it, with a stubborn, soldier-like sense of duty that 
worked automatically in his constitution. Hitherto 
he had loved with a little hope — not much, but 
enough to ripen passion perfectly; now he loved 
without hope. That was all. It was within the prob- 
abilities that his passion would some day decay and 
fade — the history of life could not be ignored in this 
matter; but that he should cease to love before he 
ceased to breathe was a thing out of the question. 
Love would have to change its form and manifesta- 
tions, to suit the changed external conditions, to 
adjust itself to the new limitations ; but it would be 
there to the last — he knew it — intact as his physical 
frame, indelible in his soul as the mark of the horse 
hoof on his forehead. 

In a melancholy fashion he counted himself still 
happy — far happier, at any rate, than if he had never 
met with Peggy. She was so sweet and good, and 
kind and true, that a man was the better for loving 
her, even without hope ; it gave him self-respect, it 
inspired him to rise above the petty and the ignoble, 
it elevated his character, it dignified life. He had the 
satisfaction of knowing that the strongest desire of 
the human heart was justified — that love and per- 
fect mating were not dreams given to a man to mock 
him. There she was, if not for him. The race that 
produced such women was worth belonging to on 
any terms. 

Down the gleaming middle of the river sped the 
boat, all softly dusk on either side. The dip of the 


THE DEVASTATORS 


169 

oars and the smothered panting of the oarsmen 
made no encroachment upon the stillness in which 
his thoughts roamed. Poor Peggy, not to have 
known the man within the man, the knightly soul 
who could thus think about her ! For he no longer 
occupied his mind with plots and plans to win her 
favour; all his concern was to shield her to the 
extent of his powers in the path she had chosen — to 
buttress her safety and happiness, regardless of his 
own. 

To this end he had allowed the boys to talk when 
otherwise he would have restrained them. And 
now he meditated upon their disclosures with a sort 
of stern dismay. Harry Bedingfield was a — but no 
word could match his feeling about the man who, 
having won Peggy, took his responsibilities on her 
account so lightly. What could he, Keith, do to nip 
this budding mischief? 

Steering the boat round a bend of river, he 
brought into view a pair of figures seated on a bank. 
The moonlight showed them man and woman, and 
no more. Watching his course with due vigilance, 
he noted them, and, dusk as it was, turned his 
face away. He took them for village lovers, a la- 
bourer and his lass, enjoying the cool of the even- 
ing and sweet compensation for the day’s toil. 
Well for his own chances of a night’s rest that he 
had delayed the homeward journey to so late an 
hour. 

For the lovers were Peggy’s lover and the little 
widow from Rumford rectory. In the afternoon 


170 


THE DEVASTATORS 


the young man had surrendered to a craving within 
him that was like the craving for strong drink, and 
taken his way thither upon some plausible and 
unnecessary errand to Mrs. Miles, intending to be 
asked to dinner. And he was asked, but not by her. 
The meek lady knew what he wanted, but also knew 
why he wanted it, and could sometimes be invulner- 
able even to the blandishments of a handsome man. 
Mrs. Rochester had long outstayed her welcome as 
far as her aunt was concerned, but unfortunately was 
still pleasant company to the uncle, who frankly con- 
fessed his liking for “ a pretty woman about the 
place.” He could not see the faults in such an one 
which were glaring to the female eye, and the perfect 
understanding that had existed between him and his 
partner ever since Mimi’s elopement with the com- 
mercial traveller was again seriously ruptured on 
her account. So when the good gentleman walked 
into his wife’s drawing-room, accompanied by his 
niece, who had been doing parish work with him, 
the sight of Harry sitting stiffly on a hard chair, 
confronting the prim-mouthed lady of the house, 
was quite a welcome one. It suggested a tempo- 
rary relief to the strain of an uncomfortable 
situation. 

“ Of course you’ll stay and have a bit of dinner 
with us ? ” he said at once, while cordially shaking 
hands. Harry demurred on the ground of incon- 
veniencing Mrs. Miles, so that Mrs. Miles was 
obliged to say “ Not at all ” ; and his scruple about 
clothes was disposed of by Mrs. Rochester, who said 


THE DEVASTATORS 


171 


she was not going to change her own dress — a white 
muslin with black sash, in which she looked very 
cool and charming. Then he skipped off with Mr. 
Miles to the latter’s dressing-room to wash his 
hands. 

After dinner the young people went into the gar- 
den, for the house was warm and the outer air 
refreshing. Having taken the precaution to put hats 
on, they were able to extend their wanderings when 
the garden in its turn became too close. They 
wandered and wandered until they reached the river, 
time and space being lost sight of in the interest 
of Mimi’s tale of her accumulated misfortunes — 
chiefly of her aunt’s unkindness to her. It seemed 
years, she said, since she had had “ a soul to speak 
to,” which was the reason why she felt so strangely 
happy now — with her old friend, to whom alone she 
could talk freely. To be solitary and to be mis- 
understood she conceived to be her destiny, and she 
wondered why. She was getting used to it now, but 
would never be reconciled to it, never ! She could 
not understand those women who preferred to 
be independent. She admired them excessively, 
and envied them their strength of mind, but 
had no vocation that way herself, more was the 
pity. 

If there is one thing I detest more than 
another,” said Harry, ‘Ht is your strong-minded 
woman — the woman who despises the idea of being 
taken care of by a man. But that’s no evidence of a 
strong mind to me.” 


172 


THE DEVASTATORS 


I am so glad to hear you say that/^ said Mimi, 
“ because one doesn’t care to be thought a fool by 
one’s particular friends. I don’t mind saying frankly 
that I love to be taken care of by a man. It is my 
nature. I can’t help it.” 

“ Well, you are not likely to have to look for him 
when you want him,” said Harry. I should think 
it must take you all your time to kick the beggars 
out of your road.” 

Ah, no ! There are men and men, you see. 
The sort I like — well, I am not pestered at all by the 
sort I like,” she sighed pensively. Your sex are 
not all like you, Harry. Alas ! I have good reason 
to know that.” 

It will be seen that Mrs. Rochester was rather a 
dashing sort of flirt. But bold remarks of this kind, 
which (when tHe-a-tete with his sex) were quite the 
small change of conversation with her, will impress 
even a clever fellow as the innocent frankness of 
inexperienced youth ; that is, when the speaker has 
Mrs. Rochester’s physical attractions. Harry was 
not clever, but he was handsome, and he was young. 
And he was rapidly getting up steam as a result of 
such scientific stoking. 

“ Here is a seat,” he remarked, his voice ashake 
with the thumping of his heart. '' You must be 
tired.” 

“ Well, I believe I am, now you mention it. I 
was visiting sick people all the afternoon. That log 
isn’t full of ants and earwigs, I hope ? ” 

In five minutes they were sitting on it in the atti- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


173 


tude peculiar to the rustic swain and the young 
woman he walks out with, in their acuter mo- 
ments. Mrs. Rochester, having wrought her vic- 
tim to the reckless point, was playing the guar- 
dian angel with all her inimitable grace — but with 
her head on his shoulder and his arm round her 
waist. 

No, Harry, dear, I will not be the one to tempt 
you away from your duty. You have pledged your 
word to Miss Le Marchand, and we must sacrifice 
ourselves. We must part.” 

'' I can’t ! I can’t ! I’ll give it all up — I’ll tell 
her the truth— I’ll ” 

No, darling, you must not. That would be dis- 
honourable, and I will not allow you to do anything 
dishonourable.” 

But I can not live without you, Mimi ! ” 

“You must try, my dearest. Be brave! For 
my sake, Harry ” 

And so on and so on, until that phantom boat 
came stealing round the corner. Harry was too blind 
with passion to see boats or anything, but Mimi’s 
quick wrench from his embrace warned him of an 
intrusion. 

“ Oh, who are they ? ” she whispered. “ I won- 
der if they saw us ! ” 

“ I don’t know,” groaned Harry, “ and I don’t 
care.” 

But Mrs. Rochester cared immensely. As soon 
as the boat was out of sight she rose, with some 
remark about the scolding she would get from 


12 


174 


THE DEVASTATORS 


the cruel aunt if she stayed out with him any 
longer. 

“ Come, dear,'' she said, with a maternal air, 
and let us forget this foolishness." 

“ One more kiss ! " Harry pleaded. 

She shook her head inexorably. 


CHAPTER XIII 


“ You — dashed — young — idiot ! ” 

This was all Mr. Bedingfield could think of in 
the way of effective argument when he heard that 
his son Harry was playing fast and loose with 
Peggy Le Marchand and her ten thousand pounds ; 
but the slowly enunciated words were like cannon- 
balls in weight and momentum. When Harry said 
he had “ known he was an idiot this many a day,” 
clearly implying what he meant by that, there was 
a mine explosion of paternal wrath. It was ex- 
pressed in terms unfit for publication, but in effect 
the father ordered the son, on pain of expulsion 
from house and will, to behave as a man and a 
gentleman forthwith, and not let him (Mr. B. senior) 
hear any more damned blackguard nonsense. 

Mrs. Bedingfield expostulated abjectly. My 

boy ! my boy ! Do — do, for my sake ! ” His 

sister Myra flew out at him, sulked at him, sent 
him to Coventry; for girls, individually and as a 
class, were the instinctive enemies of the fair Mimi 
— almost as much so as the young married women. 
It was the case with those who did not know her, 
and Myra knew her well. “ It would serve you 

175 


176 


THE DEVASTATORS 


right if Peggy refused to have any more to do with 
you” Myra railed at him, “ and you married a 
creature that would scratch and bite you.” Since 
Mrs. Rochester had begun to interfere with the 
Bedingfields, Myra had taken pride in displaying 
an infinitesimal dent in her plump arm. “ That, 
my dear, is where she bit me — once when she came 
to play with us at our house and I happened to 
displease her.” 

As for scratches, they were the small change of 
social commerce with Mimi Carter as a child, ac- 
cording to Miss Bedingfield’s account. 

But it was not family influence that kept the 
infatuated one in the path of honour, as laid down 
by Keith Macdonald ; it was something else that 
unexpectedly took place — a thing which the intelli- 
gent reader would pronounce unbelievable did he 
not know, as every experienced person knows, that, 
in her dealings with men, nothing is beyond the 
power of a pretty woman. 

Peggy went to see Miss Hedway, who had not 
been well. The visit lasted a week, and gave the 
girl no enjoyment. As soon as possible she es- 
caped home again, notifying the date beforehand 
to her mother, but not to Harry, because he had 
not written to her during all her absence. 

When the train ran into Dareham, and she 
looked out to see who was at the station to meet 
her, it was Harry himself who stood on the plat- 
form, and her mother beside him. Both their faces 
were eagerly expectant, turned to watch for hers; 


THE DEVASTATORS 


177 


and but that her mother’s smiled all over, Peggy 
would have said to herself : “ Something has hap- 
pened ! ” and looked to have bad news broken to 
her. She tumbled over Thomas into Mrs. Le Mar- 
chand’s arms, neither of them concerned about the 
strict decorum of the proceeding; and while her 
mother kissed her with more than usual fervour, 
Harry got hold of a spare hand and squeezed it 
painfully. 

“ Ah,” she thought, he knows what a bad 
boy he has been not to write, and he wants to pro- 
pitiate me. All the same, I am going to have a 
little straight talk about that presently.” 

They led her to the waiting brougham, half 
embracing her as they went, and all got in. Dumb- 
ness then possessed them for the few minutes that 
it took to drive to Harry’s door, where the carriage 
stopped to set him down. No light was thrown 
upon the strangeness of things for Peggy when he 
again wrung her hand, and, looking earnestly from 
her to her mother, said in a voice of emotion : “ Then 
I may come to-night — directly after dinner?” 

Mrs. Le Marchand gave the answer, and her 
voice purred and crooned : 

Come as soon as you like, dear boy — as soon 
as ever you like.” 

Finally, before he shut the carriage door, he 
leaned to her inviting face, and they kissed each 
other. 

“ What’s up ? ” inquired Peggy. Harry looks 
very odd. What is all the mystery about ? Why is 


178 


THE DEVASTATORS 


he coming to-night so particularly — I rather looked 
to have you to myself, Mummy, and to go to bed 
early — and why after dinner and not before ? ” 

Mrs. Le Marchand patted her daughter’s hand. 
She was radiant, but confused. “ He does not feel 
equal to a family dinner,” she said softly. ‘‘ He 
would have to talk. Besides, father has been a 
little captious with him — for no reason — everything 
has been explained. It is only you he wants to see, 
my pet. He came this afternoon to find when you 
would be coming home. If it had not been to-day, 
he would have gone to you at Aunt’s.” 

“ But why ? ” asked Peggy, a little pale. 

What is the matter? He is not usually in such 
a desperate hurry. Is it — mother ” — impulsively 
■ — “ is it, do you think, anything about our engage- 
ment? I have heard — something ” 

“ Hush ! ” said the mother, her mild eyes frown- 
ing. That is nothing but evil-minded gossip that 
should never have reached your ears. I told your 
father so, and now it is quite proved. Peggy, I 
can tell you this much — I asked myself, so as to be 
quite sure, and now I am ashamed of having done 
it — he says he never wishes to see her again, and 
that she is not worthy to be named in the same day 
with you. Poor boy ! He will explain everything 
to you himself when he comes to-night.” 

“ Mother, dear,” said Peggy, crimsoning, why 
did you? If there is nothing to explain, I don’t 
want explanations. I shall not speak to him, and 
I don’t intend him to speak to me, on any such 


THE DEVASTATORS 


179 


subject. You can see him when he comes — I am 
tired, and shall go to bed — and tell him he has 
made a mistake. Tell him, with my compliments, 
that his blessed Mrs. Rochester is nothing to me. 
Anything more,’’ she added, with a thought of 
the letters she ought to have had, “ anything more 
that wants saying, I will undertake myself — on a 
future occasion.” 

Mrs. Le Marchand gasped in a deprecating way, 
but was prevented from making other reply by the 
stoppage of the carriage and the appearance of 
maids for wraps, the maids being followed by Wil- 
liam, evidently captious still. 

“ What an age you have been ! ” he snapped 
at Jane. “ Couldn’t you wait to talk till after din- 
ner? Well, Peg? Had a lively time? Mr. Snow- 
den in good health, I trust ? Run and change your 
frock, and be quick about it, if we are not to have the 
fish in rags and the mutton a cinder.” 

Peggy flew upstairs, and had no more time to 
think until seated at table, when, between her 
father’s bursts of fault-finding, so meekly endured 
by the cook’s scapegoat, she meditated upon the 
approaching interview, vaguely exasperated by her 
mother’s hints, but at the same time soothed by 
the happy knowledge that Mrs. Rochester was not 
thought worthy of being named in the same day 
with herself. 

At the conclusion of the meal Mr. Le Mar- 
chand went to his smoking-room, ordering his cof- 
fee to be sent after him. Hardly had he banged 


i8o 


THE DEVASTATORS 


the dining-room door when the front-door bell 
rang. 

“ There he is ! ” cried Mrs. Le March^nd, all in 
a flutter. “ Go to him, darling — in the drawing- 
room — it is quieter there ” 

“ You go to him,’' said Peggy, beginning to 
peel a pear deliberately. “ I haven’t had any 
fruit to speak of all the time I have been away. 
Aunt thinks it unwholesome for young peo- 
ple ” 

“ O Peggy ! ” Mrs. Le Marchand pleaded. 

So Peggy threw down her knife and fork, and 
went off, laughing, to the drawing-room. Here an 
early autumn fire and shaded lamps revealed the 
lover on the hearthrug, and that his excitement had 
not yet gone from him. She tripped up to him 
with a red face and a matter-of-fact air. 

“ Oh, good evening, Harry ! Why all this 
solemn ceremoniousness, may I ask? Won’t you 
come into the hall and smoke ? ” 

He advanced to meet her, ignoring her ques- 
tions, and she had a sudden fresh perception of 
how handsome he was. This at once did away with 
her little grievance against him and her resolution 
to talk straight. Her foolish girl’s heart swelled 
with pride in his height, his strength, his look of 
gallant manhood ; and before she knew it her red 
head was crackling the shining breastplate of his 
shirt front. 

“ I don’t believe you care one bit to see me,” 
she laughed happily. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


l8l 


I care so much,” he replied, “ that if you had 
not come to-day I should have fetched you.” 

“ You did not seem to care particularly about 
my going,” she reminded him. “ And you never 
wrote to me once.” 4 

“ Didn’t I? Never mind ” 

“ But I do mind. I am not an exacting person, 

as you know; nor jealous, nor curious ” 

“ Nor anything that isn’t good and sweet,” he 
broke in, embracing her again. “ O Peggy, you 
are a woman in a thousand — honest — faithful — 
straight ” 

Spare my blushes,” she cried, disengaging her- 
self, scarlet with delighted embarrassment. “ I am 
not used to so much fulsome flattery. And sit 
down, won’t you? and tell me what causes this — 
this — this demonstration of approval. Did you 
make a formal appointment in order to tell me 
that you have just discovered I am honest? I 
was in hopes that you knew that some time 
ago. 

‘‘ I always knew it. Every one must know it, 
and I did not come for that, of course. What I 
came for, Peggy, was to ask you to fix the day for 
our marriage.” 

'' Oh ! ” she ejaculated. 

“ Soon” said he, with a strange, agitated eager- 
ness, his nether lip quivering under his handsome 
fair mustache. “We have been engaged a good 
while now, and I can’t wait any longer. There’s 
a house of my father’s — we could get it to-morrow 


THE DEVASTATORS 


182 

if we liked — I have told your mother about it ; she 
makes no objection, and my people are awfully 
anxious to see us settled. They say that a trous- 
seau can be got together in no time — a few days 
in London at the best shops — and you are not a 
girl to think a lot about dress and display. Besides, 
the autumn is getting on, and I want us to go 
abroad for the honeymoon — a good, long trip. If 
we don’t start in a month or so we shall run into 
the cold weather straight off.” 

“ Stop a minute ! ” gasped Peggy, shaking her- 
self from the most resolute embrace that she had 
ever experienced. Do let me get my breath ! 
O Harry, dear, we can’t settle things offhand in 
this way, as if we were getting up a ball or a cours- 
ing meeting. Why should we make a rush and 
scramble of it? Honeymoons don’t depend on the 
season of the year, and the house won’t run away. 
Why — why ? ” 

“ Peggy, don’t ask why and why ! At least, 
ask all you like — there is only one answer — I want 
you” 

- But ” 

“ Ah, don’t haggle ! Say yes.” 

The unwritten letters were forgotten. Mrs. 
Rochester was not mentioned. And it must be re- 
membered that Peggy was not a pretty girl, to 
whom it comes natural to think that what she wants 
is of the first importance. In the end she yielded 
to his embrace and to his prayer. With her head 
on his shoulder, as they sat side by side on a sofa 


THE DEVASTATORS 1 83 

near the fire, she exhaled a sigh of profoundest 
bliss and satisfaction. 

Do you really want me?’’ she asked him. 
“ So much ? Then, my love, you shall have me, 
as soon, within reason, as ever you like.” 

Shortly after that he left. But before he left 
he made, in a particularly solemn and dramatic 
manner, a promise that he would be a good hus- 
band to her. “ I don’t deserve a girl like you,” 
was what he said, to her deep joy, “ but I am going 
to do the utmost a man can to prove myself worthy 
of you.” 

As if I doubted that ! ” she murmured. She 
did not doubt it in the least. He was showing her 
now what a good man he was. This first absence 
of hers from him had been the test of the value 
he put upon her. “ I am afraid it is all the other 
way,” she said humbly ; that I am not half, half 
good enough for you.” 

Her feet skimmed the hall, the stairs, the pas- 
sage to her room, as if she had wings to them. 
Her mother, lying in ambush, heard the swish of 
her skirts, and came forth to intercept her. They 
flew into each other’s arms. 

So this is what you two have been laying your 
heads together about ? ” Peggy chuckled, on the 
edge of sobs. “ Plotting my downfall behind my 
back ! I had no idea you were in such a hurry 
to get rid of me.” 

Oh, my precious ! But that is just the best 
of it — we shall keep you still ! And you will have 


THE DEVASTATORS 


184 

two dear homes instead of one, and I shall have 
a son more, and we shall all be one family together.” 

There was always a doubt about the happenings 
of the distant future, but the present year or two 
seemed safe. And, if Peggy lost no time, her 
mother would secure the heavenly joy of mothering 
her through the early difficulties of housekeeping, 
and those deeper experiences which to both of them 
were the rightly desired destiny of their sex, no 
matter what the contingent trials. She would be 
at hand — “ please God,” as she always said when 
referring darkly to this sacred matter — at the time 
of all times when a daughter who has given love 
for love needs her mother most — the daughter who, 
as a daughter, has earned the right to be a happy 
mother in her turn. They perfectly understood 
each other, and why the fixing of the wedding day 
filled them with grave delight. 

Up to midnight they sat over the little fire that 
had been lit in Peggy’s bedroom to welcome her 
home, and discussed details of furniture. Affected 
as the girl was by the recent interview, in its senti- 
mental and romantic aspects, she yet had plenty 
of interest to spare for what are commonly consid- 
ered the sordid features of the matrimonial scheme. 
They were not sordid to her, who, as Mrs. Le Mar- 
chand had once said, was “ all for her home, like 
me.” Perhaps the dearest dream of Peggy’s girl- 
hood was “ my own house ” (the nursery, particu- 
larly), and it had certainly been the theme of end- 
less gossip with her mother for months past. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


185 


There was a fat cookery book, in which entries were 
made almost daily — a book as important to her as 
The Commonwealth of Life to her friend at Rum- 
ford ; and before so much as a pocket-handkerchief 
of trousseau was thought of, there had grown up 
quite a stock of little articles in fine linen, embroid- 
ered by her own hand, for use on beds and afternoon- 
tea tables. Now, with date fixed and house selected 
— a house to be carefully investigated first thing in 
the morning — it was no wonder the two women 
lost count of time. How to furnish this room and 
that; which London shop to go to, and when; the 
merits of rival gas stoves ; with apologies to the dis- 
gusted reader — it must be confessed that these were 
some of the things that held them absorbed so 
that they forgot the hour and the day’s fatigues. 

At midnight the master’s latch-key and a banged 
door surprised them. 

Oh, there is father ! ” cried poor Jane. I’m 
afraid he will make a fuss when he finds us up 
so late.” 

Wait here for him,” said Peggy. “ We’ll see 
if he knows. If not, we may as well tell him now, 
and be done with it.” 

Mr. Le Marchand tramped upstairs, and, at her 
call, appeared at Peggy’s door. Strange to say, it 
had not occurred to him that there was an occasion 
to make a fuss. He was not even cross. 

Well,” he began, taking the words out of their 
mouths, “ I’ve got a piece of news for you. If 
you haven’t heard it, you will never guess — not in 


THE DEVASTATORS 


1 86 

twenty tries.” He paused a moment, looking hard 
at his daughter. “ That little minx of a widow has 
caught poor Dallas.” 

“ Caught ? ” echoed mother and daughter in a 
breath. 

“ She is engaged to him — of all the ill-assorted 
matches that ever one heard of ! I would not have 
believed it if I had not been told by Pattison him- 
self. He is wild about it — more on his wife’s ac- 
count than his own ; a deuced unpleasant thing it is 
for her, and both of them. The woman has done 
nothing but insult them ever since she came into 
the neighbourhood, arid this will make the position 
unendurable. As for Dallas — well, it is a good 
illustration of the proverb that there’s no fool like 
an old fool.” He forgot that Dallas was a good 
ten years younger than himself. 

Mrs. Le Marchand lifted and dropped her plump 
hands and gazed at her husband open-mouthed. 
While ceasing, as she had long done, to pity Mrs. 
Rochester, she had never shared the prevailing 
opinion that the widow was a particular sort of 
minx and cat ; nevertheless, and in spite of Harry’s 
deliverance — assurance having been made doubly 
sure — the news grieved her. 

“ Dear me ! ” she sighed, “ I never thought a 
man like Dr. Dallas would choose a wife like her ! ” 

Peggy was staring at the hair-brush on her 
knee, quite pale from the shock. Nor I,” she 
said, and never voluntarily spoke another word on 
the subject. 


CHAPTER XIV 


The bridegroom came forth from his chamber in 
dressing-gown and slippers, a little headachy from 
a “ send-off ” dinner overnight. In his bachelor 
sitting-room his last bachelor meal was spread. The 
best man stood on the hearth-rug, warming his 
hands behind dove-gray trousers and the silk-lined 
tails of a resplendent blue frock-coat. 

“ Good-morning,^^ said Keith, with a resolute 
smile. Cold morning for the time of year. Well, 
and how do you feel ? ” 

‘‘ As well as can be expected, under the painful 
circumstances,” said Harry, ringing for the hot dish. 
“ Awfully good of you to come so early, old chap. 
Sit down.” 

“ Thanks. I have had all the breakfast I want. 
I am here early to see that you get a proper one.” 

Harry flung himself into a chair, and, when the 
hot dish came, uncovered and glowered into it. 
“ Rump steak,” he grumbled. “ Tough as a boot 
sole, of course.” 

Tender as butter,” corrected the other, coming 
over to prod it with a fork. “ The very thing to 
fortify you for the frightful ordeal. Come, tuck in.” 

The bridegroom did so in a feeble way, but soon 

187 


THE DEVASTATORS 


1 88 

desisted. '' Oh, I can’t eat this stuff ! ” He pushed 
his plate from him. 

“ What will you have, then ? ” inquired Keith, 
still wearing the smile appropriate to the occasion. 
“ I insist on a good meal of something or other. 
Shall I ask your landlady for the cold meat ? • Eggs 
and bacon ? Eggs alone ? You may have beer, if you 
like — anything in reason that will help you to pull 
yourself together, except spirits ; I bar spirits on the 
wedding morning.” Then through the smile and 
the friendly solicitude there burst a sudden blast of 
rage. “ By God, Bedingfield, if you show before her 
and her people with that lamb-to-the-slaughter air 
about you that you’ve got on now, I will throw 
up my billet and leave you to be your own best 
man, sir.” 

Harry was much surprised — he had fancied him- 
self conferring a valued privilege upon Peggy’s 
humble friend in inviting him to this office ; but the 
hint was timely. The limp man braced himself. 
“ Whoever heard of a bridegroom w^earing a digni- 
fied and a bold demeanour ? ” was his light retort. 
“ The thing is a contradiction in terms. I should 
like to see how you would comport yourself if you 
were in my place.” 

If I were in your place — ” The words came up 
on a deep breath, spent in a moment. However, 
I’m not.” The rage and the smile departed together. 
Keith poured out, very carefully, two cups of tea, 
and stood sipping one of them, lost in thought. 
Harry buttered a piece of toast. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


189 

“ ril be all right when the blessed fuss is over/’ 
said he. Yet it was he who had insisted on the 
fuss when Peggy had proposed a private family 
function at Dorlcote. “ No, no,” he had said ; “ let 
us do the thing properly. I want everybody to see 
how proud of my bride I am.” By which he really 
meant that he wanted Mimi Rochester to see how 
festive he could be without her. 

But whenever the best man left off spurring him, 
he drooped. 

And the bride was not much more cheerful. 
Only in her case the reason was obvious, and did 
not call for anxious notice. The anxiety of her 
household, and particularly Aunt Harriet, was for 
the bridal satin and Brussels lace, in which, at the 
culmination of her distress, Peggy infolded Thomas 
as unreservedly as if she had worn a kitchen apron. 
She crouched on her bedroom floor, with her train 
crumpled under her, and clasped him to her breast, 
while he pawed her bodice, and licked her chin, and 
cried miserably ; for that dog knew as well as possi- 
ble that she was going away and that he was to be 
left behind — a thing that had not happened in their 
lives before. Pressure had been brought to bear 
upon her to prevent her from embarrassing Harry 
with a request that he would object to grant and not 
know how to refuse, and she had seen the sense of 
the argument adduced; but now she was almost 
sorry that she had consented to a marriage which had 
to be begun in such a way. 

‘‘ I would not mind for myself,” she said to Jerry, 


13 


190 


THE DEVASTATORS 


who sympathetically looked on, “ but how can I be 
happy when I know that he is breaking his heart? 
All the time he will be fretting and moping, and 
thinking that I have abandoned him/' 

Jerry told her to look out — that Thomas was 
tearing her frill. 

“ Bother my frill ! " she returned, passionately. 
“ No, my precious dog, you can't come this time — 
just this only once ! But I shall soon be back, sweet, 
and I will never do it again — I can promise you that. 
And I am not going to stop away as long as Harry 
says — he need not think it. Make haste with that 
house, you people, and send me word the instant it 
is ready." 

The house that had so opportunely become avail- 
able for the young couple still reeked with new paint, 
and the upholstering business had not advanced 
beyond the selection of styles and patterns. But the 
two families only waited to get the wedding off their 
hands before plunging into the delightful task of 
preparing for the bride's return. She was soothed 
with assurances that no time would be wasted, and 
Jerry promised to comfort Thomas by letting him 
sleep in his (Jerry's) bed until he went back to 
school. 

Then “ Jane ! Jane ! " came up the stairs in a roar 
from the hall below, where the agitated father 
stamped up and down. “ How much longer are 
you going to keep this carriage waiting here ? " 
Upon which the wedding gown was crumpled a little 
more, as Peggy turned from Thomas to fling herself 


THE DEVASTATORS 


I9I 

into her mother^s arms. A whole minute they clung 
with all their strength, moaning inarticulate blessings 
on one another, while William raved to deaf ears. 

All Dareham was astir and jubilant, for the bride 
was very popular and the bridegroom a town's 
product and member of one of its most important 
families. There was a constant dash of carriages 
up and down the streets ; the shopkeepers tied to 
business stood outside their shops, blocking the 
pavement while they gossiped together ; the church- 
yard and the avenue thereto were crowded, the 
church packed to the doors. In the front seats sat 
the guests, a flower bed of fashion, other guests 
rustling in and trying to squeeze among them. 
County ladies were there, and Mrs. Pattison (lovely 
in black and cardinal) and M^s. Rochester (perfectly 
beautiful in pale heliotrope) sitting between her 
aunt, Mrs. Miles, and her Hance, the squire of Rum- 
ford. Pending the bride's appearance, much inter- 
est was excited by the proceedings of the little 
widow, who began by requesting Mrs. Pattison to 
move up, with all the air of the squire's lady dealing 
with a subject person. Mrs. Pattison moved quite 
away to another pew, where she sat all of a quiver, 
with tight lips and working nostrils ; and Mrs. Roch- 
ester established herself, with her unresisting cap- 
tive, in a good place from which to see Harry during 
those preliminary minutes when a poor bridegroom 
has to meet all the eyes (and grins) of the congrega- 
tion as he watches the door. 

Harry bore himself well when it came to the 


192 


THE DEVASTATORS 


excruciating point. He was deeply flushed, but he 
held up his head and kept a stiff composure, even 
under the intense scrutiny of heartless Mimi’s gaze. 
He strolled around from the vestry, chatting with his 
supporter, as if accustomed to being married fre- 
quently. When Mrs. Le Marchand, tremulous and 
puffy-eyed, waddled up the nave on Philip’s arm, fol- 
lowed by Gerald escorting Miss Hedway, her new 
son-that-was-to-be stepped forward to assist her to 
her seat, with a filial respectfulness that made her 
want to kiss him on the spot. Then he stood in the 
chancel to await his bride, outwardly so calm, and 
looking so handsome and graceful by contrast with 
the plain best man, so dignified in his attitude toward 
his surroundings, and especially toward the hereto- 
fore irresistible one, whom he sternly ignored, that 
she was seized with pangs of chagrin and regret for 
that she had so lightly let him go. It was from the 
hope that it might be so, of course, that he drew the 
inspiration for such high behaviour. He had wished 
her to hate seeing him give himself to another, and 
his wish was fulfilled. She had not expected to hate 
it so much. This did not mean that she repented 
her choice of a husband, but merely that, as an ex- 
traordinarily pretty woman, she wanted everything. 

“ He is a proud mon the day,” she whispered, 
leaning to the spectacled old fogey beside her. She 
made a great parade of her affianced condition and 
beaming happiness therein, but under her smile 
nursed a bitter sense of the difference between him 
and the hero alluded to. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


193 

“ So he ought to be/^ Dr. Dallas replied, audibly 
and with emphasis. 

She pouted an arch rejoinder, and said she was 
jealous, which made him wince. Weeks ago he had 
begun to wince, feeling the touch of the coarse soul 
through the fine body ; but ever, as now, when the 
charming face looked up at him, he forgot all but 
that. “ How beautiful she is ! ” his expression said. 
“ Dainty as a woodland flower, and as unsophisti- 
cated! Who am I, that I should win such an 
exquisite creature for my wife ? ” 

The humming organ began to blare, the west 
porch to echo loud clatterings without, the congre- 
gation to rustle and revolve ; and in came the bride 
on her father’s arm, with a bevy of girls behind her, 
Myra Bedingfield and prim Miss Chanter in the lead. 
All Mrs. Rochester’s little mind was at once concen- 
trated upon the pageant, which also drew the lib- 
erated attention of her companion, who gazed at 
it with equal interest. Peggy, looking upon the 
ground, was more conscious of his spectacles than 
of any point in space. 

She looked upon the ground, but walked with a 
firm step and held her head with dignity. Putting 
aside considerations of Thomas for the moment, 
she was a happy bride, and confessed it, veiling 
her joy in a grave composure that was in the best 
of taste. The other veil softened her ruddy hair and 
the defects of feature upon which her rival would 
have loved to gloat ; and the splendid gown set of¥ 
the unquestionable figure in a manner that made 


194 


THE DEVASTATORS 


the little widow’s heart burn. Ah, money ! money ! 
It was by that means that poor Harry’s downfall had 
been compassed. 

Harry, as he watched his bride’s advance, ear- 
nestly detached himself from everything but her. 
He was a wholesome young English gentleman — 
or would have been, if nature had spared him the 
fatal gift — and had the ideals of duty common to his 
class. The girl — so good, so honest, if not other- 
wise all he might have desired in a wife — was giving 
her life into his care and power ; and “ By God ! ” he 
said to himself, “ I will not be the sweep to betray 
her trust.” The solemnity of the occasion con- 
strained him, in spite of Mimi’s eyes. 

Peggy lifted hers, as soon as those of the congre- 
gation were behind her, and discerned the spirit 
in him. The look she gave him touched him to the 
quick. He put out his hand, and she took it 
instantly, and so they were clasped as they sank on 
their two hassocks under Mr. Chanter’s open book. 
Mrs. Rochester did not see this incident ; the best 
man did, and thanked Heaven from an anguished 
heart. 

It was all over in a few minutes — the babbling 
assemblage on its feet, the organ booming and bray- 
ing, the bells jangling overhead, the packed vestry 
disgorging its kissing and crying company. Down 
the aisle marched bride and bridegroom with a gal- 
lant step, the bride’s veil thrown back, her eyes 
bright as the new ring; and after them the brides- 
maids, smirking with their young men; Mamma 


THE DEVASTATORS 


195 


Bedingfield on the arm of Papa Le Marchand, 
Mamma Le Marchand, dreadfully upset, on that of 
Papa Bedingfield ; and all the gay troop of wedding 
guests trying to keep up with them, battling through 
the solid and tenacious common crowd. Every 
tombstone was utilized to give a glimpse of the pro- 
cession winding down the path to the gate where the 
carriages waited ; business, as the local paper after- 
ward reported, was at a standstill while those car- 
riages conveyed the wedding party through the 
excited streets. 

Finally all were housed, and the coachmen drink- 
ing healths with the maids and lauding the liberality 
of their Australian patron. The whole house being 
required for reception purposes, the breakfast — a 
real old-fashioned groaning-board of a wedding 
breakfast — was laid in a marquee in the garden ; and 
what it cost Mr. Le Marchand for champagne and 
truffles and white flowers, and all the rest of it, was 
the wonder of his admiring guests. It was with him 
in those days as with his co-colonists when they held 
their then recent great International Exhibition. 

Damn the expense ! would express the sentiment 
in each case. Other times, other manners. They 
are not so princely now. 

Mrs. Henry Bedingfield stood in the hall, look- 
ing quite pretty with her blushing honours upon her, 
to receive the congratulations that the vestry had 
been too small to hold. The first crush being past. 
Dr. Dallas and Mrs. Rochester appeared before her. 
The latter was mouthpiece for both, effusively com- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


196 

plimenting the house upon its style of doing things, 
and expressing her regret that ‘‘ poor me,'' as a 
bride, would make but a sorry show by comparison. 

“ Oh, but you have had your show," answered 
Peggy, with a cordial hand-shake, forgetting the par- 
ticulars of the first marriage. “You are barred 
against entering into competition with the poor girls 
a second time." 

Later Mrs. Rochester informed Dr. Dallas that 
this remark revealed a shocking want of taste and 
tact on Peggy's part. Did he not think so — a gen- 
tleman of his high breeding? But what was to be 
expected of a colonial, accustomed to the manners 
of the bush ? 

Dr. Dallas waited until his young lady had 
engaged the bridegroom ; then, in a few words, ten- 
dered his earnest good wishes to the bride. She 
murmured a brief acknowledgment, deeming them 
more precious than all the rest. 

“ My little present " 

“ Oh," she broke in, crimson, “ don't you talk 
about presents! I wish we had announced this 
affair in the papers as some people announce 
funerals : ‘ The friends of Mr. and Mrs. William Le 
Marchand are invited to follow the remains of their 
dear daughter Margaret to the place of interment ' — 
that is, to witness the nuptial obsequies — ‘ on such 
and such a day, at such an hour. No presents by 
7'equestf That is what it must come to with self- 
respecting people unless they can restrain them- 
selves from giving wedding parties. I am ashamed 


THE DEVASTATORS 


197 


to accept so many, and from people, some of them, 
that I have hardly spoken to. But everybody has 
been so kind — rso awfully kind 

“ I was going to say,’’ Dr. Dallas filled in the 
pause, “ that my little present had no value what- 
ever. Still, it will take a fairly strong farm cart, or 
perhaps a wagon, to bring it from Rumford to Dare- 
ham. I could hardly send it for display among this 
pretty silver and jewellery, but you will find it in your 
back yard when you return.” 

Ah ! ” she thanked him, with a radiant look. 
“ I know ! ” 

“ While I was about it, I thought I might as well 
provide a little casual-ward attachment. One never 
knows what may happen. And it will be winter 
soon.” 

You don’t know how I shall value it,” she said, 
fervently. 

Yes, I do,” he answered. 

Mrs. Rochester had wanted to see the diamond 
necklace — gift of a Melbourne sharebroker to 
whom William Le Marchand had purveyed clients — 
and was now drifting among the glittering tables 
with the bridegroom in tow. 

Whereabouts is mine ? ” she asked casually. 

“ I don’t know,” said Harry, stiffly. “ I was not 
here when they were set out.” 

“ But it was your present.” 

Oh, they are all lumped together. That pipe- 
rack’s mine, and the cigarette case, and the clock, 
and the black-pearl studs ” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


198 

“ Here it is,” exclaimed .the lady, and she lifted a 
silver photo frame out from behind a pile of devo- 
tional books — Mr. Chanter’s offering — and set it in 
a more conspicuous position. The frame contained 
the most striking of the one hundred and fifty por- 
traits of herself that she possessed — the loveliest pre- 
sentment of her lovely face. 

“ It looks rather conceited,” she admitted, with 
a laugh. “ But I did not like to send the frame 
empty. And I remembered that you particularly 
liked that one of me.” 

Her companion said nothing, and tried to avoid 
the pictured eyes. 

“ Where shall you put it, Harry ? ” 

“ Don’t know. I’m sure. Where my wife 
pleases, I suppose. The lady of the house has the 
arranging of the drawing-room ornaments, I be- 
lieve.” 

“ And am I to be a drawing-room ornament ? ” 
sighed Mrs. Rochester, pathetically reproachful. 

Again Harry kept silence. She turned upon 
him. 

‘'Why are you so nasty to me?” she almost 
wailed, though softly, so that others should not hear 
her. “ I don’t deserve it, Harry ! And the one 
thing I can not bear is to part from you in this 
spirit. What I did, I did for your sake, and not for 
my own.” 

“ Oh, come ! ” he scoffed savagely. • 

“ It was the only way to save you,” she pleaded. 

He laughed outright, causing one or two per- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


199 

sons to turn their heads inquiringly. Mrs. Roch- 
ester was most indignant. 

“ Do you mean to tell me,” she demanded, draw- 
ing him to a quieter corner, “ that you believe I am 
marrying the Dallas man for love? ” 

The shameless question shocked and steadied 
him. “ No,” said he, looking over her head. “ I 
don't believe that, because I don’t believe it is in you 
to play fair with any man. What I believe — nay, 
what I am absolutely convinced of — is that you 
are marrying him because he is a bigger swell than 
I am.” 

That is a deliberate insult,” said she ; but she 
pocketed it forthwith. You know in your heart 
how unjust you are! You know I could not have 
you — in honour I could not ; and are you going to 
begrudge me even a home ? It is only a haven that 
I am creeping into, Harry ; heaven^ I am well aware, 
is not for me.” 

But all he said, in response to this touching state- 
ment, was that he was sorry for the Dallas man. 
That stiffened her. 

Indeed, and you may spare your pity,” she 
retorted, with a toss of the head. “ Dr. Dallas is 
quite satisfied with me, if you are not. He adores 
me. He worships the very ground I walk on. And 
I am going to be a good wife to him, and Rumford 
is going to be a great house again ; and I am sur- 
prised, when I think of what my position is, that I 
can stoop to talk in the way I am doing now.” 

She drew herself up — not merely a woman 


200 


THE DEVASTATORS 


scorned, but a pretty woman scorned. Similarly, 
he was not a man humiliated, but a handsome man 
humiliated ; therefore he withstood this last assault, 
implacable. 

“ With your permission, Mrs. Rochester, we will 
close this subject, and not open it again. If you are 
anxious for my honour and morals, as you profess, 
you will see that it is not good for me — on the pres- 
ent occasion. Excuse me if I leave you; I should 
be helping my wife to receive her friends.’’ 

They bowed, politely furious, and he marched 
back to Peggy, with the honours of war. 


CHAPTER XV 


He was a good husband for a long time, and she 
was a happy wife — in a quiet way. She knew little, 
intimately, of the domestic side of men, excepting 
her own father, whose natural deportment had 
taught her not to expect too much. Besides, she 
was never an exacting person — how could she be, 
with that tint of hair ? And the claims of “ my own 
house ’’ were so constant and so delightful as to 
leave her little leisure for those watchings and 
broodings which work so mischievously in homes 
where love sits in idleness. Also, the way she met 
those claims resulted, naturally, in a reign of con- 
tentment and good temper on Harry’s part. 

They were back from their bridal travels by 
Christmas, Rome in Easter having been given up. 
By that time Dr. Dallas and Mrs. Dallas were oft* 
on theirs — Egyptward, it was understood, and in- 
tending to spend the spring in London, that the 
lady might see the pictures and otherwise taste the 
intellectual joys of the season, while her husband 
burrowed in the British Museum for materials for 
his book. It was from the society journals that 
Peggy gathered this information. She took them 


201 


202 


THE DEVASTATORS 


for their hints on cookery and house furnishing; 
and, having them, liked to read the gossip column. 
And one day she came upon an amazing paragraph 
about “ the well-known land-owner and distin- 
guished litterateur, Dr. Dallas of Rumford Hall, 
LL. D., and his beautiful young wife, nee Mrs. Roch- 
ester,’' which she read aloud to Harry, in crimson 
indignation. 

“ Fancy him,” she exclaimed, “ being dragged 
down to that! Oh, how awfully he will feel it! 
Well, I did not think she was quite so vulgar. Did 
you ? ” 

“ I don’t suppose she had anything to do with 
it,” replied Harry, without moving his eyes from 
his own paper. “ London reeks with those back- 
stair Paul Prys. She would hardly have described 
herself as ‘ nee Mrs. Rochester,’ or Rumford Hall 
as being an LL. D.” 

But next week there was an account of the royal 
progress to Cairo ; a fortnight later, of Mrs. Dallas’s 
unique social success in that gay city, and of the 
‘‘learned savant’s” pilgrimage to the Pyramids 
and the Sphinx. His forthcoming great book was 
puffed in various columns of various papers that 
knew nothing about it; a portrait of the author — 
“ Oh, what a desecration I ” cried Peggy — appeared 
in one of them (to be copied by the rest), as a 
young man in academic robes; portraits of Mrs. 
Dallas, “ whose beauty has created quite a furore,” 
were so thick about the place that the “ universal ” 
fame attributed to her was hardly exaggerated. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


203 


Stately old Rumford, her “ country seat/’ was pho- 
tographed for the public benefit, and enthusiastic 
anticipations indulged in respecting what would 
happen when the “ works ” going on there were 
completed and the fair young chatelaine ” in- 
stalled. Toward the end of winter her court-dress 
was selected, for “ presentation on her marriage,” 
and Peggy learned what the train was to be made 
of and lined with, and how the petticoat and bodice 
were to be trimmed, and that the family diamonds 
were being reset, and all the rest of it. 

I never knew he had any family diamonds,” 
said she, “ and I don’t believe he knew it himself.” 
She could have wept for her old friend. 

However, by this time she was in my own 
house,” and could no longer be bothered with 
other people’s affairs. Thomas was skipping 
around, his youth renewed; the new maids were 
looking to her for instructions; meals, rapidly re- 
curring, had to be thought out and personally super- 
vised; the young wife was on her mettle to prove 
herself worthy of her promotion in life. It was a 
sight to see her, bare-armed, in her large bibbed 
apron, putting her hoarded recipes into practice. 
Music and painting, even serious reading — as Harry 
became regretfully aware of in course of time — 
were not in her line, except as she enjoyed them at 
second hand ; cooking and housekeeping were the 
accomplishments she was born for. The bride- 
groom was blatantly proud of her achievements in 
these arts, and would ask casual friends to take pot- 


204 


THE DEVASTATORS 


luck, for the sake of showing them that she was 
never to be caught napping. When she had re- 
ceived her numerous callers, with the prettiest hos- 
pitality in the matter of cakes and cunning sand- 
wiches, and had been duly entertained at bridal 
dinners, she gave little dinners in return which were 
a series of triumphs for the young husband. 

“ You can’t beat that,” he would brag to less 
well-fed benedicts or bachelors in lodgings ; you 
can’t beat her. My wife’s the best cook in Dare- 
ham, barring her mother. My wife knows how to 
make a fellow comfortable.” Peggy slaved to keep 
up this brilliant reputation, and was as happy as 
the day was long. 

When the “ works ” at Rumford were finished, 
and the squire and his lady came home — the papers 
had told of their inclusion in shooting parties at 
other great houses, which to Peggy was the greatest 
anomaly of all — Dareham turned from the earlier 
to the later bride, and made itself ready to pay its 
best respects to her. Peggy — not in too great a 
hurry — got out her best hat and her silver card-case 
for the purpose. To her unspoken, almost uncon- 
scious satisfaction, Harry took the view that it was 
unnecessary for him to accompany her, since men 
were not expected to present themselves in person 
at such functions; he heaped several packets of his 
own visiting cards upon her, and bade her do his 
duty for him in the usual way. But he was very 
anxious about her costume, that it should be suffi- 
ciently correct and stylish. She laughed at this 


THE DEVASTATORS 


205 


fiddle-faddle^ but to please him put on a set of 
beautiful sables which usually reposed in her ward- 
robe, because she said she hated to feel the little 
creatures' heads beating against her skin. She was 
a good dresser, for she had always had plenty of 
money to dress on and was quiet in her tastes ; and 
she went forth so perfectly appointed that even the 
magnificent Mrs. Dallas could find no fault with 
her. That lady always credited poor Harry’s wife 
with a passable figure and a fair knowledge of how 
to put her clothes on. 

The two Mrs. Bedingfields, who were excellent 
friends, made their calls together. On the road to 
Rumford the elder lady indulged in reminiscences 
of Mrs. Dallas’s earlier days, and comments upon 
her recent rise in the world, which the younger, it 
must be confessed, listened to with a slightly mali- 
cious interest. 

“ Poor, dear Dr. Dallas,” said the mother-in- 
law, “ is an excellent man and a clever man — in 
some things — but no more fit to cope with an artful 
creature like that than an infant in arms. He 
should never have inherited Rumford. You see he 
was so bewildered between that tiresome Mrs. 
Higgles and that encroaching Mrs. Pattison — and 
he would not be advised by me — that he was ready 
to do anything. Of course he could not manage 
by himself, being so ignorant of the duties of his 
position, and people were forever dinning in his 
ears that he must have a wife. Situated as he was, 
and so innocent and helpless, he was any woman’s 
14 


206 


THE DEVASTATORS 


prey. And trust that minx to see it ! There she 
was on the spot, without a farthing, and in debt 
besides — her aunt told me that bills used to pour 
in by every post — actually out on the hunt for a 
husband, as one may say; why, he was a godsend 
to her! She might have roamed the world over 
before getting such another chance.” 

“ She could not have coerced him,” said Peggy. 

He fell in love with her.” 

Pshaw ! As a fly falls in love with treacle. 
I don’t know what the men are made of to be so 
taken in by a pretty face. There’s her uncle’s 
curate, young Mr. Fletcher, he left the parish at 
a week’s notice for no other reason than that he 
was broken-hearted because she would not have 
him.” 

“ Did she ever want to have a curate ? ” asked 
Peggy, smiling. 

“ I don’t for a moment suppose so. But she 
used to go district visiting with him, and talk to 
him about his beautiful sermons and his influence, 
and all that sort of thing, till she completely turned 
his head. And that is what she did with Dr. Dallas. 
Mrs. Miles says she carried a sick dog to him to 
be put in the lethal chamber. It’s my belief that 
she poisoned it first.” 

“ Oh, no,” protested Peggy. 

“ Well, my dear, I can tell you a little story 
that at least makes the theory probable. When 
she was a child, a cat had kittens on a smart frock 
that she was going to wear at a party. She was 


THE DEVASTATORS 


207 

SO wild that she got a pepper caster and dusted a 
lot of pepper into its eyes.” 

'' Oh,” moaned Peggy, turning pale, “ why do 
you tell me such awful things ? ” And she began 
to quake for all the dear creatures domiciled at 
Rumford, who had always been so happy. 

“ I am merely telling you,” the dowager ex- 
plained, what sort of person she is, and the sort 
of means she would have used to get hold of Dr. 
Dallas. No stone was left unturned, you may be 
sure. She got him to spend evenings at the rectory 
— I blame the Mileses for this, but I suppose it was 
natural for them to help the thing on, for their own 
sakes as well as hers — and I believe she would weep 
by the hour to him, in holes and corners, over her 
friendless and lonely state. Hah! If I had liked 
to throw my Myra at his head in that way — but I 
hope I know better, and she, too — it would have 
been a blessed thing for him. She would have been 
the right mistress for Dareham. And she would 
not have started to ruin the place at the first set 
off. My husband says it is perfectly frightful the 
way the estate is being drained. It can never stand 
it. He is going to remonstrate with Dr. Dallas; 
he says he must — although it may lead to the same 
fuss that there was with the Pattisons.” 

The fuss with the Pattisons was not clearly- 
understood, even by the confidential lawyers; but 
the general impression was that, soon after coming 
to Rumford, Mrs. Dallas had requested her hus- 
band to remove the agent from his position, and 


208 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Dr. Dallas had refused. It was said to be the first 
time he had refused anything, and his tardy mani- 
festation of moral backbone delighted everybody, 
particularly Mrs. Pattison. 

Beguiled by their pleasant talk, the two ladies 
seemed to get to Rumford in no time. As the 
brougham turned in at a park gate nearly a mile 
from the house, a noise of barking in many keys 
struck Peggy’s ears, so sensitive to such sounds. 
She popped her head out of the window, and in the 
distance perceived the lank figure of the squire, 
baggy-coated, felt-hatted, surrounded by his pets. 
He disappeared in trees when he saw a carriage, 
without waiting to identify it; but Peggy asked 
leave of her mother-in-law to halt for a word with 
the gate-keeper, the same William who had once 
raised a stick to Thomas. Thomas now ran be- 
tween his legs without fear, to speak to a friend 
within the lodge kitchen. 

“ Good-day, William,” the young matron ac- 
costed the old man. “ How are you ? And how 
are the family ? ” 

William was unmarried, and he knew whom 
she alluded to. He came round to her side and 
leaned upon the carriage door. 

'' To tell you the truth, mum,” said he, impres- 
sively, we are a bit upset just now.” 

Oh, how’s that ? ” returned she. 

‘^Well, mum, the lady up there” — ^jerking a 
nod over his shoulder — “ she’s got all sorts o’ fine 
furniture and stuff, and she says she won’t have no 


THE DEVASTATORS 


209 

dogs messin’ about. And she wants the lutthel 
chamber took from where it is, and all the house 
kennels done away with, to make room for her 
improvements. The fact is— I see it the first time 
she came out to look at ^em — she hates live things. 
She d hull the lot on to the dung heap if she had 
her way.” 

Peggy’s face expressed her feelings. The dow- 
ager murmured, “What did I tell you? Not but 
what,” she added candidly, “ I can sympathize with 
her to a certain extent. I myself, fond of animals 
as I am, could never approve of letting them spoil 
good furniture — the way you do, my dear.” 

“ Then how will you manag-e ? ” Peggy asked 
William. 

“ We’re going to form a colony, mum,” replied 
William, quoting his master. “ We’ve chose a 
place, and they’re building a big fence round, and 
a cottage for me inside, where I’m going to live so 
as to look after ’em when he can’t. He’s down 
there now, taking the creatures for a walk and 
seeing how the workmen are getting on.” 

“ Then we shall not see him,” sighed Peggy. 
“ Well, I hope you will soon be settled comfortably, 
William. I am awfully glad you are going to live 
with them. I shall pay you a visit soon. Good- 
bye. Drive on, coachman. Oh, poor, poor Dr. 
Dallas ! ” 

Mrs. Dallas sat in the renovated drawing-room, 
she and it being greatly admired by several other 
visitors, whose carriages moved down the drive to 


210 


THE DEVASTATORS 


give place to Mrs. Bedingfield's at the stately front 
door. Admitted by a portly butler and passed on 
to a correct young footman, “ Mrs. Bedingfield and 
Mrs. Henry Bedingfield ” were shouted into the 
presence, and advanced boldly, trying not to feel 
overcome. Their eyes noted changes in every di- 
rection, but no change so great as that between the 
ingratiating young widow on the war path and the 
victorious new wife of the lord of Rumford. She 
was most cordial, to be sure, but her very walk — 
in her splendid French gown — and her dainty dip 
of the hand of greeting, showed her sense of her 
condescension in continuing to mix with these 
people. 

“ How do you do, Mrs. Bedingfield? How do 
you do, Mrs. Harry? And where is that recreant 
husband of yours ? 

“ Where is yours ? returned Peggy, smiling. 
“ Do you find the men anxious to support their 
wives on these occasions. I don’t.’^ 

“ I do,” said Mrs. Dallas, as a rule. And I 
think, if only because he is the family lawyer and 
belonging to the estate, as it were, he should have 
paid his respects a month ago. I consider him 
most remiss. He should take pattern by his 
father” — smiling at her elder guest. 

I will tell him,” said Peggy, easily. 

'' Oh, I don’t expect you will ! I expect you 
will be like the other young wives — bottle him up 
and hide him in your pocket, for fear any other 
woman should look at him.” The hostess sought 


THE DEVASTATORS 


21 1 

the eyes of the other visitors for due appreciation of 
her popular little joke. 

“ No,” said Peggy, placidly. “ I don’t think 
such strong measures will be necessary. I never 
had any faith in dog chains. And I am not in the 
least afraid he will abuse his freedom.” 

“ She has no need to be,” put in the elder Mrs. 
Bedingfield, visibly bristling. 

The two Dareham ladies took two elegant cups 
of tea — Sevres, the wedding gift of Mr. Cheveley — 
and exchanged polite platitudes with their immediate 
neighbours, and very occasionally with the hostess, 
re-enthroned. At the end of a quarter of an hour 
the portly butler called up their carriage in thun- 
derous tones. They left in a mood of vague dis- 
satisfaction with their visit — the dowager particu- 
larly. Time was when she had taken the high hand 
with Mimi Carter, and it was not pleasant to her 
to have the tables turned. 

'' She seems very friendly,” was her remark to 
her daughter-in-law as they drove away, “ but she 
was not really friendly. Didn’t you feel that, my 
dear?” 

Peggy did. And she was not so stupid as alto- 
gether to miss the meaning of the covert malevo- 
lence and defiance which she had divined as 
directed against herself. But she replied, in her 
amiable way, that no doubt Mrs. Dallas was being 
a little spoiled by too sudden prosperity. 

Spoiled ! ” sniffed the elder lady. You can’t 
spoil a thing that has no good in it to start with. 


212 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Well, I am sorry for Dr. Dallas — poor fool! Do 
you see him anywhere, Peggy? I should like to 
shake hands with him. His family and the Beding- 
fields have been like brothers and sisters together 
for about a hundred years.” 

Peggy could not see him ; he was carefully hid- 
ing from the observation of Mimi’s visitors. So 
Mrs. Bedingfield said that, the afternoon being still 
young and the rectory so near, they might as well 
call upon the Mileses. She was in hopes of a 
comfortable gossip with Mrs. Miles (whose homely 
tastes she knew, and the troubles with Mimi that 
she had undergone), all about the changes at the 
Hall and the disgusting snobbery of her who had 
instituted them. 

But no sooner had the good woman unfastened 
her velvet cloak and Peggy thrown off her furs in 
the warm little rectory drawing-room, than the fact 
appeared that the parson and his wife — both at 
home and delighted to see their friends — were full 
of pride in and approval of their niece, and not at 
all inclined to listen to complaints against her. It 
was so nice, they said, to have her so near them, and 
to see her so comfortable. Of course her habits 
had always been luxurious — well, she was young, 
and she was used to being made much of — and so 
nice, also, to have the great house open again, and 
to feel free to come and go as if it were one’s own. 
Mr. Miles said she was exactly fitted for her post, 
and Mrs. Miles actually fetched a bundle of those 
society papers, scored with pencil marks, to show 


THE DEVASTATORS 


213 


how her splendid young relative was admired and 
extolled. Within half an hour Mrs. Bedingfield 
signalled to Peggy, and refastened her mantle. 

I really could not stand the heat of that little 
room any longer, said she, as she waved farewell 
from the carriage window. “ Phew ! It is quite 
refreshing to get into the open air. I think we will 
go and see Mrs. Pattison, my love, now that we 
are close by. Isn’t it amusing, the airs those poor 
things give themselves about Rumford ? Our 
‘ fair young chatelaine ’ — pah ! But I am afraid 
the church is always too ready to bow down in 
the temple of Mammon.” 

At Mrs. Pattison’s they stayed a whole hour, 
barely leaving themselves time to get home and 
dressed for dinner. As they rattled back through 
the autumn twilight, Mrs. Bedingfield commented 
upon the pleasantness of their third call with un- 
wearied spirit and completely restored good-hu- 
mour. She said she had never before been so 
struck by Mrs. Pattison’s distinguished appear- 
ance. 

“ It is all very well to have a pretty face, my 
dear ; anybody can have that — the greatest fool, the 
commonest of the common; but that air, that style, 
those graceful manners — they mark the true lady. 
I remember being much impressed by something 
your father once said to the same effect; he is a 
man of very cultivated tastes — your father, Peggy, 
in spite of his having lived in Australia for so long. 
I used to disagree with him about Mrs. Pattison, 


214 


THE DEVASTATORS 


but now I see that he was right. And I commend 
her for her resolution in refusing to be patronized 
by that little upstart. Imagine her impudence, ask- 
ing to have Pattison turned away, as if he were a 
day labourer! But she reckoned without her host 
that time. Aha! I should like to have seen her 
when her husband told her he would not do it. 
Thank goodness, he has some sense left. But I 
am sorry for that poor woman; the position must 
be galling indeed to one of her innate refinement.’’ 

“ I think her refinement is more superficial than 
innate,” said Peggy bluntly ; “ otherwise she would 
never have made that remark to me about taking 
care not to let Harry get into the toils. I hate that 
sort of talk. I think it downright coarse.” 

“ Oh, she meant it kindly, knowing the little 
hussy as she does. But Harry is all right, dear 
child ; he is too devoted to you and the sweet little 
home you make for him to be in any danger from 
her, or fifty like her. Of course, when a fellow is 
young — and so good-looking — and the girls all 
silly about him, he flirts here and there; but all 
that is past now. You must not take notice of these 
little remarks ” 

“ I don’t,” Peggy broke in, indignantly. “ But 
people ought not to make them — and they would 
not if they were innately refined.” 

As her mother-in-law’s respect for Mrs. Pattison 
had risen, her own had declined. The warning to 
keep Harry bottled up in her pocket,” following 
upon Mrs. Dallas’s intimation that she was naturally 


THE DEVASTATORS 


215 

expected to do so, so offended her deeply and 
rankled for a long time. 

At her own door she was set down with an 
affectionate kiss, and her first proceeding at home 
was to fly around after cook and parlour maid to 
see that dinner was being prepared properly. She 
then hastily brushed and washed, put herself into a 
smart tea-gown, and joined her husband where he 
lounged in his small smoking-room over an adven- 
ture novel. He took her on his knee and asked her 
how she had got on. She told him she had had 
a delightful drive, and delivered the message she 
had promised Mrs. Dallas to give him. Its effects 
were highly satisfactory. 

I may be her family lawyer,” said the young 
man, “ though I shall not claim the title in my 
father's lifetime, but I am not her flunkey. If she 
thinks she is going to order me about just because 
I am in Dallas's employment she will find herself 
mistaken. Did you leave my cards. Peg ? '' 

“I did.'' 

“ Very well. Then I have discharged my social 
obligations. That is all the calling she will get 
from me. Hah, there's the dinner bell! I have 
been pining for my wittles this hour past. What 
have you got for me to-night, old girl?'' 

Come and see.” 

They sat down to the usual excellent repast, 
which she flavoured with a cheerful history of the 
Rumford visit, about which he asked endless trifling 
questions — who was there, how the place looked. 


2i6 


THE DEVASTATORS 


what Mimi had on, what she said and did, etc. 
Afterward they played cribbage in the smoking- 
room (the cosiest in the house), while he smoked at 
ease. He then went to the office for an hour or 
two — he called it the office — and she to bed early, 
perfectly content. 


CHAPTER XVI 


The inevitable occurred soon afterward. Win- 
ter weather came, Mr. Bedingfield, senior, caught a 
bad cold, affairs at Rumford had to be attended to. 
“ I can’t go out in this east wind, with my chest in 
the state it is,” said the father to the son. “ You 
must go, Harry.” And, business being business, 
Harry went. 

He was shown into the library — bare-floored for 
the dogs who were not allowed in it, with the rugs 
that Mimi had recommended to make the hearth 
comfortable for them and to keep the feet of the 
master warm under the table while he was writing 
his book. Harry thought of the day of the choosing 
of those rugs, and how he had supposed himself help- 
ing her to do it ; how he had walked with her from the 
rectory to the Hall, imagining the walk itself the 
principal end in view, and not the visit ; how she had 
laughed at the old fogey’s fads and fancies as they 
strolled along ; how, even during the rug inspection, 
they had shot glances of amusement at each other 
behind the fogey’s back ; how little he (Harry) had 
foreseen, at the time, either where he was drifting 
or how the temptress was plotting to bamboozle 
him. Little fiend that she was ! 


217 


2I8 


THE DEVASTATORS 


He was calling her a little fiend in his heart when 
the door opened, and in she walked. Oh, so lovely 
in her dark-blue morning gown, that went so per- 
fectly with her flower-like skin and her golden hair — 
thrown up against the stately background of old 
oak and books and heraldic windows. He had not 
seen her for so long that he had almost forgotten 
how beautiful she was. Recognising it now, as a 
new surprise, a twinge — it might almost be called a 
pang — of the old malady seized him; but he stood 
up stiffly, red in the face, indeed, but without a 
smile. 

“ Good-morning, Mr. Harry,” said she, with a 
frankly extended hand — such a slim, cool, velvety 
little hand ! 

Good-morning,” said he, awkwardly respon- 
sive. “ I came on an errand from my father to Dr. 
Dallas ” 

Oh, yes,” she broke in, with raised eyebrows 
.and a laugh. “ Of course I know you came to see 
Dr. Dallas. And he has evidently quite forgotten 
his appointment, which means that he is cutting a 
dicky-bird’s corns, or engaged in some other deeply 
important matter. I have sent a man across the 
park to look for him, and I suppose he will be found 
eventually. He may be in the house, but the house 
is so big, and affords him so many hiding-places, 
that he can lose himself in it as easily as the needle 
does in the bottle of hay. If he is in the house, you 
will simply have to wait until he comes out.” 

Harry rudely consulted his watch. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


219 

“ Is time so precious ? ” she asked him, with a 
quizzical look. 

“ Oh, no ! he replied airily. I can wait a 
little, if you think he won’t be long.” 

I am awfully sorry you have to wait,’” she com- 
miserated him, playfully. “ And, unfortunately, I 
have fto idea whether he will be long or short. I 
am not in the secret of his comings and goings. All 
I can say is that he is pretty sure to turn up about one 
o’clock, which is lunch time. If you could stay to 
lunch, you would certainly see him, but I suppose it 
is too much to expect that you will condescend so 
far?” 

He certainly did not want to stay to lunch, but 
neither did he want to make himself ridiculous, and 
he did want to do the business he had come upon. 
So he thanked her for the invitation, as easily as he 
could, and provisionally accepted it. 

Then ring that bell, will you ? I will have 
your horse sent round. And come into my morn- 
ing-room. It is warmer there than here. This 
library is a perfect barn. I always catch a cold when 
I sit in it.” 

It was dark when he returned home — from a long 
interview with his father, he said, to report upon his 
errand and business matters generally. Peggy was 
in her little drawing-room, her only sitting-room, 
making tea for her mother. They sat in firelight, 
deep in confidential talk, but when he came in the 
young housewife rang for lamps, and Mrs. Le Mar- 


220 


THE DEVASTATORS 


chand, fondly kissing her, toddled off hastily, lest 
she should now become de trop. Harry accepted 
tea, although dinner was imminent, and, sitting down 
with his wife, told her about his Rumford visit — told 
her, that is, what he thought would interest her. 
Among other things, he spoke of certain winter 
entertainments that Mrs. Dallas had projected, by 
way of enlivening the neighbourhood and doing the 
proper thing that had so long been left undone. The 
first dance was to come off shortly. 

“ And I really think. Peg, that I shall have to go, 
as a matter of policy, confounded nuisance as it is. 
She gave me several cuts about my incivility, and I 
don’t want to parade myself as a boor, or do anything 
to alienate the family ; it would never do in our posi- 
tion. I wonder would you mind? Your mother 
would come and keep you company. It is only, you 

know, because I think I ought ” 

Of course you ought,” said Peggy, inevitably, 
‘‘and must. There is no shadow of a doubt about it.” 
She was not going out herself, but took every oppor- 
tunity to impress upon her husband that he was not 
to curtail his pleasures on her account ; this time she 
was only more than usually emphatic. “ I should 
not allow you to refuse,” she declared, with affected 
sternness, “ and thus make probable ducks and 
drakes of the firm’s interests, and those of my future 
family. Remember Mr. Pattison’s narrow squeak.” 

“ Well, I made sure that was what you’d say,” 
confessed Harry, “ and so I sort of gave them to 
understand that I would go.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


221 


The night of the dance came, and Peggy tied his 
white tie for him, and put the black pearls into his 
shirt front, and was particular about his shoes and 
gloves, although not more particular than he was. 
She burnt incense before him when all was done and 
he stood in his splendour undoubtedly as fine a 
young man as Rumford was likely to produce ; and 
he kissed her most affectionately when she had 
helped him on with his overcoat. 

“ I will get a shakedown at home to-night, dear, 
so as not to disturb you, and turn up at breakfast with 
all the news. Take care of yourself, and go to bed 
early, and sleep well. You will be in the best place.” 

The Le Marchand carriage took him, and at the 
same time set down Mrs. Le Marchand, delighted 
indeed to have a fireside evening with her daughter, 
while William, highly satisfied with the arrangement, 
went unhampered to the ball. No sooner were the 
men’s backs turned than the two women drew in 
their chairs to the bright hearth, brought out articles 
of needlework ordinarily invisible, even to Harry’s 
eyes, and settled down to sew and talk in luxury 
beyond anything that the revellers at Rumford were 
to know. Instead of going to bed early, Peggy 
prolonged the sweet colloquy till nearly midnight; 
then her mother retired with her. 

“ I do think,” she sighed happily, as she was 
sinking to sleep, the maternal arm over her shoulder, 
and the maternal hand at her lips, that I am the 
most fortunate woman on the face of the earth. I 
have everything** 

15 


222 


THE DEVASTATORS 


There are times, and many of them, when we feel 
like this, and are so unwise as to say so. It gener- 
ally happens that we are made to eat our words 
immediately. 

On the following afternoon Mrs. Pattison called. 
She was shopping in the town, and took the oppor- 
tunity to bring an account of the Rumford doings to 
the supposed unwilling absentee. “ A man never 
knows what women have on,” remarked the lady, 
and I thought you would like to hear about the 
dresses, perhaps.” 

Oh, I should,” said Peggy, ringing for tea. 
What was yours ? ” 

“ Well, I was rather extravagant, I am afraid. 
But I determined that, as I was going for Ronald’s 
sake, I would do him justice, if possible. As a mat- 
ter of policy — after what had happened — I did not 
wish to cut an inferior figure.” 

“ You could never do that,” said Peggy politely, 
“ whatever you had on.” 

It was maize-coloured moire,” smiled Mrs. 
Pattison, “ with bands of sable next the skin and 
round the bottom; and I had a coral necklace, 
mounted on dark-brown velvet.” 

How charming ! It would suit you perfectly. 
And the ^ fair chatelaine,’ what was her choice ? ” 

‘‘ White, which did not become her one bit. It 
was net stuff, all over fish-scale things that hung 
down and caught in everything. It was quite pain- 
ful, the way she glittered and tinkle-tinkled as she 
moved about. And a tiara, if you please! So 


THE DEVASTATORS 


223 


unsuitable for a commoner’s wife ! But she thinks 
herself as big as any duchess now. Funny, isn’t it? 
I could not help smiling, looking back to the time 
when she used to play in the gutter here, and think- 
ing of her commercial traveller. Oh, how could a 
Dallas so forget himself ! ” 

“ He was there, of course ? ” 

“ He was there to some extent ; you caught 
glimpses of him in doorways and corners now and 
then. I said to your father, when we passed him 
in a waltz — he does not dance, apparently — ‘ Of 
whom does that poor man remind you ? ’ And your 
father guessed at once — ‘ Ponsonby de Tomkyns.’ 
She might have been Du Maurier’s model for Mrs. 
Ponsonby, with her schemes and snobbery and 
self-absorption. The guests got partners as they 
could ; she danced every dance. Of course she was 
quite mobbed by the men ; that would have happened 
to any hostess in her position — in her husband’s po- 
sition, rather. And, oh — manners! By rights she 
should have given fair play all round — should she 
not ? — and especially to his old friends ; but no — all 
the smart young men for her, and let the girl guests 
take her leavings. The way she singled out that 
gay Lothario of a husband of yours — half a dozen 
round dances if they had one — was the talk of the 
room. I should give him a very particular wigging, 
if I were you ; I would, if he were mine.” 

“ What for ? ” inquired Peggy, as she poured the 
tea. “ Why should he not have his little innocent 
diversions? Besides, if she singled him out he 


224 


THE DEVASTATORS 


could hardly help himself ; indeed, he was highly 
honoured.” 

“ ‘ Barkis was willinV my dear, I assure you.” 

“ Of course he was. What good dancer 
wouldn’t be, with the chance of such a partner? It 
is not only a treat to him to dance with her, but a 
treat to others to watch them doing it. When I first 
saw them waltzing together at our house, I thought 
if ever the poetry of motion was realized it was 
then.” 

“All I can. say is,” smiled Mrs. Pattison, stir- 
ring her tea, “ that he is lucky in having you for a 
wife.” 

“ Thank you. I think I may modestly affirm 
that we are both lucky. Is your tea right? Will 
you have cake or muffin ? Harry tells me that even 
my old friend Keith Macdonald could not keep 
away from the ball. I am surprised at him, such a 
sobersides as he is! I made sure he would have 
availed himself, only too gladly, of the number of 
excellent excuses he had for stopping away.” 

“ I dare say he went, as I did, for policy’s 
sake.” 

“ Oh, no.” 

The swift utterance and the tone of these two 
words cooled the surface cordiality of the interview. 
Mrs. Pattison soon took her leave — to carry to other 
houses the tale of Mrs. Dallas and Harry Beding- 
field, and of the childish obtuseness of the latter’s 
wife, who also showed more plainly every day the 
results of her bush breeding. “ Innate refinement ” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


225 


was the quality that Peggy most conspicuously 
lacked, according to this widely recognised au- 
thority. 

But obtuse as she truly was in some things, 
Peggy saw further than she owned. When her visi- 
tor had gone, she sat a long time alone and idle, 
meditating; and her bright face had never been so 
sadly overcast. In the morning Harry had given 
her to understand that the ball had bored him to 
death, and he had not mentioned even one waltz with 
Mrs. Dallas. He was tired and dull at breakfast, 
and had gone to the office without the customary 
farewell kiss. “ But why should I insult him with 
these vulgar suspicions ? I will not stoop to it,” the 
young matron resolved. “ There shall be nothing 
of that sort between him and me.” She had her 
mother’s example of high-minded patience before 
her. But the shadow of her mother’s fate, as the 
wife of a handsome husband, was visible on the 
horizon of her own new world, even to the eyes that 
she kept shut so carefully. 

However, the first baby came. And it would 
have had to be a bad husband indeed — which as yet 
Harry was not — to spoil, or even to mar, the utter 
rapture of bliss that it brought to Peggy. Happi- 
ness was really no word to describe her state of 
mind. Heaven ” was totally inadequate. She 
could only look eloquently into Mrs. Le Marchand’s 
face, which said, “ Yes, I know,” in the same mystic 
language. The dear woman had the desire of her 
heart — a little later and she would have missed the 


226 


THE DEVASTATORS 


boon, for rumours of droughts, strikes, and other 
uncomfortable things were coming from Australia, 
pointing to an early rupture of holiday plans; and 
Dr. Dickenson agreed with her that her first grand- 
child was a model of every virtue possible to the new- 
born. Its hair was going to be red, but nobody 
knew it; in shape and quality, in healthiness and 
goodness, the infant was a paragon simply. It was 
a girl, and its name was to be Jane, in honour and 
memory of her who was the first to make its 
acquaintance. Uncle Gordon, invited to be god- 
father, made this suggestion, which Peggy hailed as 
a most happy one ; upon further discussion, it was 
decided to perpetuate the names of both grand- 
mothers, so that one should not be jealous of the 
other. “ Jane Isabel ” — or “ Isabel Jane.’’ Harry 
wanted “ Margaret ” and “ Le Marchand ” added to 
the list, but that was deemed too great a weight to 
bear, and it was pointed out to him that there would 
certainly be plenty more to give them to. He said, 
“ The more the merrier,” which Peggy thought so 
truly fatherly and proper of him. He was, indeed, 
the pattern father worthy of such a pattern child. 
After the first dubious days, when the little thing had 
filled out, and lost the violent complexion that it 
started with, he seemed to enjoy nothing more than 
an interview with his daughter. Straight from the 
office or the dinner-table he would come to Peggy’s 
bedside, and there sit and dandle the white bundle, 
and cluck to it, while the mother descanted upon its 
surpassing charms. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


227 

O, Harry, did you ever see such a little duck ? 
Isn’t she too, too sweet? ” 

The creature would open its eyes upon the face 
above it, gaze calmly for a minute, and smile that 
extraordinarily wise smile which a small baby puts 
on at times, but hardly ever at the right time. The 
complacent nurse, beaming down upon the trio, 
would say, Poor little thing, it’s got the wind ! ” 
and Peggy would fly out at her, and say the little 
thing had nothing of the sort, but knew her daddy, 
bless her ! and Harry would half believe it, and give 
his finger to the prehensile fist, the warm, moist 
clasp of which sent tender thrills all through him. 
Not the least of Jane Isabel’s charms was that of 
having put Mrs, Dallas’s pretty nose completely out 
of joint — for the time being. As already stated, 
Harry Bedingfield had the makings of an excellent 
fellow in him. If only one fairy godmother had 
stayed away from his christening! 

Mrs. Dallas was most kind in her inquiries after 
mother and child. She sent flowers from the Rum- 
ford hothouses to the invalid’s room. Before 
Peggy was out of bed, the lady called in person, and 
asked Harry, whom she encountered in the hall, for 
leave to see the baby. She had been scoffing at that 
baby, and had started to make fun of her old friend, 
and to commiserate him, on its account ; but in good 
time Mrs. Miles had informed her that both the 
young parents were enchanted with it. So now 
she showed it every respect, and the humble way in 
which she asked for the privilege of an interview 


228 


THE DEVASTATORS 


quite touched the embarrassed man. He said he 
would see, and tip-toed upstairs to Peggy to put 
the matter before her. Peggy’s happy mother heart 
had room for all comers and none for petty feelings, 
so she said, “ Certainly,” at once. “ Bring her up, 
dear.” And up came Mrs. Dallas, creeping softly, 
the first visitor after the grandmothers and Thomas. 

She leaned over the bed, like a beautiful angel ; 
she kissed Peggy’s forehead, and Peggy (but she 
would have done it to a blackamoor in these ecstatic 
days) put an arm round her neck and kissed her 
back again; then she sat down, and the baby was 
shown to her, and she worshipped it with gentle 
ardour and discrimination, even with tears. 

“ How I envy you ! ” she moaned, touching her 
eyes with her lace handkerchief. What wouldn’t 
I give for one like this ! ” 

“ Your turn will come,” cooed Peggy, and 
instantly recognised how such an event would 
change everything for the Lord of Rumford — pic- 
tured him with his baby in a dozen delightful scenes, 
all in the flash of a moment. 

Ah, I am beginning to lose hope,” Mrs. Dallas 
sighed, as if all her married life had been spent in 
hoping. To which Peggy replied that that was the 
uttermost nonsense in the world, and devoted the 
remaining few minutes allowed by the nurse for the 
interview to comforting Mrs. Dallas and encourag- 
ing her to hope on. 

“Poor soul!” Mrs. Le Marchand ejaculated 
again and again when informed of the touching cir- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


229 


cumstance. “ That is all she wants, as I have always 
said ; give her a baby, and she would soon leave off 
her little flighty ways, and settle down to be as nice 
as anybody.” 

Her brother-in-law was not so charitable. “ A 
baby,” said Gordon Le Marchand, “ is the very last 
thing she would appreciate. What she wants is an 
heir to Rumford, and I can understand that she 
wants that pretty badly. If anything happened to 
Dallas, she would have to bundle out, and, at the 
rate they are living now, without much in her 
pocket. However, I trust Providence knows what 
is best for Rumford and the human race. There is 
a very good heir coming on — Colonel Edward 
Dallas’s boy at Sandhurst. His mother is as plain 
as a pikestaff, and hasn’t a shoddy thread in her.” 

Harry was more impressed with Mimi’s demon- 
stration of womanliness; that was to be expected. 
He was not present when she nursed his baby, much 
to her chagrin, but Peggy told him all about it, and 
his imagination glowed at the thought of the lovely 
creature thus engaged. He could picture her as a 
mother as plainly as Peggy could picture Dr. Dallas 
as a father; only Peggy knew what she knew, and 
he but guessed what he guessed, absurdly wide of 
the mark. He had no inclination for illicit doings, 
with his wife as she was and his child clinging to his 
forefinger; at the same time he thought better of 
little Mimi than he had ever done before. 

She continued to send flowers and kind inquiries, 
and paid a second call soon after the first. Peggy 


230 


THE DEVASTATORS 


being asleep on this occasion, he entertained the 
lady. She was gone when Peggy awakened, but 
had left an important message for her. Harry de- 
livered it, somewhat shamefacedly. 

“ What do you say. Peg? She offers herself as 
godmother to the baby. Shall we let her? She 
has regularly fallen in love with it, and says she’d 
like to make a pet of it, in case she never has one of 
her own — leave it her jewels, and all that sort of 
thing. Perhaps it would be standing in the child’s 
light to refuse ; Rumford is Rumford, you know, and 
there is our connection with the estate; but just as 
you like, of course. One can hardly fancy her as a 
spiritual guide, though old Miles and Fletcher both 
say she was awfully useful in the parish, and is still, 
taking soup and stuff to the sick and reading to the 
old people ; but then the spiritual element doesn’t 
come in nowadays. Quite right, too. The fathers 
and mothers are the proper persons to attend to 
that. It would just mean a silver mug, and by-and- 
bye some social advantages that might be valuable 
to the brat. Eh ? What do you think ? ” 

Peggy’s gushing amiability to all the world, 
including Mrs. Dallas, did not mean that she could 
be played with to this extent. It was the run of sunlit 
waves over a rock, and the rock was her implacable 
resolution to safeguard Jane Isabel’s best interests, 
as the mother wisdom conceived them, at any cost, 
even of Harry’s approval — nay, even of his affection, 
if it came to that. She stood over her baby like the 
traditional tigress over its cub, with a latent ferocity 


THE DEVASTATORS 


231 


of determination worthy of that famous animal. So 
when Harry laid Mimi’s proposition before her — 
tantamount to stretching the impious hand toward 
the ark of the covenant — the “ No! ” he received sur- 
prised him. It was so contrary to what he had 
grown accustomed to expect from his easy-going, 
complaisant wife. 

“ Just as you like, of course,’^ he repeated, so 
cowed that he dared not argue with her. “ But 
what, then, can we say to Mrs. Dallas? What 
excuse can we give ? ” 

“ Say,” Peggy answered, trying to speak gently, 
that in all probability baby will grow up in Aus- 
tralia, and that, therefore, her godmothers, to be of 
any benefit to her, should be in Australia too.” 

“ It is not at all a settled thing that she is to grow 
up in Australia,” said Harry, throwing the first drop 
of cold water upon the plan that was so dear to her 
and her mother. 

“ Well, say that the godmothers are already 
chosen. So they are,” and she named two girl 
friends on the other side of the world. “ I am going 
to stand proxy for one, and your sister for the 
other.” 

Don’t you think my sister would like to stand 
on her own account ? ” 

Then say what you think best,” said Peggy, 
finally. “ It doesn’t matter, so long as you make 
Mrs. Dallas understand that it can not be.” 

'' Very well,” he acquiesced. “ Just as you like, 
of course.” 


232 


THE DEVASTATORS 


But his voice was cold and his temper resentful. 
And it was at this moment that the breach, inevi- 
table between them when the baby came, widened to 
the point beyond which no healing up was possible — 
at any rate, until that later stage of married life, the 
middle-aged, passionless, sensible stage, which they 
were fated not to reach. 

For now the husband found himself fortified 
with a genuine grievance. He was ousted from his 
pride of place, in favour of his child. There was no 
doubt that, dear as he was to Peggy, Jane Isabel 
was dearer. We see the situation every day. It is 
all in the way of nature, and men should acknowl- 
edge the undoubted fact that the nine out of ten — 
say, rather, the ninety-nine out of a hundred — 
mothers who act in this way are the good women 
and the best wives; which means that men should 
rejoice to be thrust aside and to play second-fiddle 
to a baby. But no one expects them to do so, and 
it is conceded to the young husband — and particu- 
larly to the handsome young husband — in Harry’s 
case, that he is entitled to some indulgence. If, 
while his wife is too absorbed in nursery cares to 
attend to him, he goes elsewhere for companion- 
ship, and thereby falls into temptation, is it his fault ? 
It is “ six o’ one and half a dozen o’ the other,” at the 
most reasonable computation. Or else it is the fault 
of conditions beyond the control of either of them. 

Harry went to Rumford, and practically stayed. 
Let us leave to the imagination of the experienced 
reader the further details of a sad and common tale. 


CHAPTER XVII 


We do not live by the clock, as everybody 
knows. The value of one year may be spread over 
the stagnant levels of a dozen; the essence of a 
dozen may easily be packed into a fraction of one. 
In the five years that followed the birth of little 
Janey — by which time she had grown a quaintly 
interesting little girl, with a strange turn for reli- 
gigus polemics — it seemed to Peggy that she lived 
fifty*. Her sturdy spirit was so worn by the strain 
that she took to fainting and nervous headaches 
and other things contrary to her constitution and 
habits, insomuch that the infrequent doctor was 
called in. 

“ The system is thoroughly run down,” said he 
to the patient’s husband, after due investigation. 
“ Mrs. Bedingfield requires a tonic and good nour- 
ishment, and, above all, complete change of air and 
scene.” 

Certainly she shall have them,” the husband 
replied, and went at once to Peggy to arrange for 
an instant carrying out of the prescription. “Where 
do you think you would like to go, dear ? ” 

“ I don’t want to go anywhere,” replied Peggy 

233 


234 


THE DEVASTATORS 


wearily, for she was in the mood and health which 
made home, no matter what sort of home, the natu- 
ral place to cling to ; but Janey must not stay the 
summer here. She is losing weight and getting 
pale and thin for want of country air. We will go 
together to Dorlcote, if we may, and if uncle can 
take us in.” 

Her home — which was to have been in Aus- 
tralia, whither the dear parents and brothers had 
returned to battle with untold disasters — was now 
in London, for Harry had fallen out with his father 
and shaken the dust of Dareham from his feet. 
He had a struggling independent business that 
barely paid his personal expenses; the interest of 
Peggy’s money supported the house, which, con- 
sidered merely as a house, was as uncongenial to 
her as it could possibly be. Other houses crowded 
about it so thickly that she felt at times she could 
hardly breathe. It was still a wrench to leave it — 
her bed and chair, her pantry and cupboards, her 
comparative liberty and privacy; but she had not 
been long in quiet Dorlcote, among the flowers 
and hay-fields, before the feeling began to grow 
in her that she never wanted to go back. Uncle 
Gordon was delighted to have her and the child, 
and the old dog — infinitely more delighted than he 
allowed himself to appear ; Grace readily sur- 
rendered her office of mistress, and was pleased to 
give her old favourite the run of her stores, where- 
from to make new dishes that were much appre- 
ciated. Peggy, who could not bear to be idle, also 


THE DEVASTATORS 


235 


renovated the ancient furniture, tidied her uncle’s 
wardrobe, mended his broken books ; in short, sup- 
plied him with all the little things that he had 
been wanting without knowing it. Janey did les- 
sons with her mother every day, and spent her 
hours of relaxation in discussing the moral law with 
Benjamin, the groom, the first person she had ever 
encountered who seemed to enjoy the subject as 
much as she did. She wrote round-hand letters 
to her father, to tell him that she was quite happy, 
and that mother was quite well ; and Harry felt that, 
his family being in such good case, he could give 
his undivided attention to his own affairs for a time. 
First and last, that time was a long time. 

Grace had put Janey to bed and was soothing 
her to sleep with village tales. Uncle Gordon was 
dozing over the newspaper in his arm-chair. He 
had had a hard day, looking after the shearing of 
his sheep, an operation that Peggy was not too 
sad-hearted to laugh over when she saw it going 
on. Things being as they were with her, he did 
not mind the laugh. Had it come from her father 
a few years ago, the consequences would have been 
otherwise. By special request she spent a morning 
hour in the barn, sitting upon an upturned skep, 
while Mr. Le Marchand directed the farm boy, who 
struggled with the penned ewes, producing them 
one by one at leisurely intervals, and the travelling 
shearer carefully tied the legs of each victim before 
taking her upper wool off. The lambs outside ex- 


236 


THE DEVASTATORS 


pressed their filial agonies of apprehension in a 
sustained clamour, and the general fuss about noth- 
ing was very funny to the daughter of an Australian 
squatter in a large way. It did her good to be 
thus amused. 

But now the shorn sheep rested in the fields, 
their lambs beside them ; and Uncle Gordon was 
so fatigued with the day’s labours, combined with 
dinner, that he could not keep his eyes open. 
Peggy was virtually alone, suffering the reaction 
of her morning mood. That absurd little sheep- 
shearing had sent her thoughts to Kiewarara, and 
a fit of homesickness had grown upon her through 
the day — the worst she had had since her people 
left her. She said to herself that Kiewarara was 
all the home she had, and that she was a hopeless 
exile from it. She did not feel as well as usual, 
and ached with longing for her mother’s voice and 
arms. She was not given to the weakness of tears ; 
but, sitting in the deep window-seat by the open 
casement, while Uncle Gordon nodded and grunted, 
she had a feeling in her throat that compelled her 
to steal away into the garden or somewhere, lest 
she should weep aloud or choke. 

According to its charming English fashion, the 
June day stretched out far beyond the early Dorl- 
cote dinner hour. And so, to evade the observation 
of the house, she left the garden, after a turn or 
two, for the fields and lanes. Here nature soothed 
her. There was may in the hedges, scenting the 
air, and when she could not smell the may, there was 


THE DEVASTATORS 


237 


the beau-flower, even sweeter, to take its place. 
There \yere swallows, miracles of grace, skimming 
the green earth and the translucent sky, flute- 
voiced thrushes and blackbirds, doves cooing in the 
pines. The unfailing nightingales of the district, 
at this point of their affairs, could not wait for dark- 
nes to begin the nuptial serenade, but were already 
gushing music to their sitting mates — little rippling 
fragments, enough to tell them that the guard was 
set. The gentle Norfolk landscape, far-reaching, 
fertile, framing the massed woods and roofs of Rum- 
ford, was a picture of peace. 

But, while comforted by these things, she still 
kept her vision of Kiewarara ; she could think of 
nothing else. The dear, warm-hearted, all-embra- 
cing house — her home, where she had hoped to sit 
by the great log fires with her own children round 
her, to carry her babies about the garden when its 
acres of roses were in bloom. She could see that 
garden plainer than she could see Rumford woods. 
It was winter there now, and the smoke curling 
up from a dozen hearths into the clear, crisp, ex- 
hilarating air. The last chrysanthemums were 
hanging their heads, sodden with autumn rains, 
the last yellow leaves fluttering on the apple and 
quince and apricot trees, and on the grape-vines 
running about the interminable verandas — mere 
light brown sticks and black strings and knots, 
ready for pruning; no blue stars on the banks of 
periwinkle, hardly any roses. But winter there had 
as little of flowerlessness and sunlessness in it as an 
16 


238 


THE DEVASTATORS 


English June night of darkness; a week or two of 
difficulty in furnishing the house vases, and there 
was plenty and to spare once more. Could she 
now roam about the familiar paths — ah, if she 
only could ! — she would find tight buds of japonica, 
maroon, with a tint of that matchless scarlet here 
and there; and the laurestinus hedges red with 
promise, and full-flowered pink oxalis carpeting the 
damp nooks ; in the wilder parts, beady wattle buds, 
and perhaps a trail of the purple sarsaparilla. Never 
a day but she could find at least one pallid rose — 
cream, with crinkly, carmine-streaked outer petals 
and crumpled bronzy leaves — braving winds and 
frosts; and the mignonette also was faithful the 
year round. And it seemed to her that there was 
always sun on the broad paths and on that sweet 
veranda, with its comfortable chairs and tea-tables. 
At this moment she could see old Doctor lying in 
the warmest patch of it — poor old Doctor, Keith’s 
gift before he went to Edinburgh, the collie with 
the big ruff and feathered tail who had had to be left 
behind when the family came to England, and was 
reported afterward to have spent his years of mourn- 
ing under their empty beds, with his nose on his 
paws and his eyes full of tears, leaving the manager 
and the sheep to other helpers. The one thing that 
had pleased Peggy in the premature return of her 
parents and brothers was the thought of poor Doc- 
tor’s delirious joy at seeing them again, as it were, 
raised from the dead. He had lived to know this 
happiness, and was alive according to last week’s 


THE DEVASTATORS 


239 


letters, although getting old and slow. She won- 
dered what he would do if she, his one-time favour- 
ite, were to enter the garden gate, unlooked for, 
unannounced ? Lift his dear, beautiful head drows- 
ily, with the “ Woof ! ” that he scared swagmen with, 
stare with pricked ears and sniffing nose, and 
then 

She turned to lean on a roadside gate, over- 
wrought by the too exquisite picture of a home- 
coming that could never be. The madness of Doc- 
tor, the arms of father and mother, the jolly capers 
of the boys, the great, warm hearth, altar of love 
and comfort — especially since father had lost his 
money, and he and mother worked together again 
— with the six-foot logs piled against the white 
bricks, and the deep chairs drawn around it. Oh ! 
Oh ! If they could only know ! If she could go 
to her girl bed now, to that little old room, with rose- 
bud chintz furniture, and have mother to tell her 
ailments to, to coddle her and tuck her up, and 
by-and-bye to help her through the trial that was 
beginning to loom so depressingly — oh, what 
wouldn’t she give ! She laid her head on her arm 
and shook with sobs — to the keen distress of 
Thomas, who ran round her, whimpering, begging 
her to desist. 

tiis protesting whines recalled her to herself. 
This sort of thing, she reflected with her wonted 
sense, would never do. Crying did not mend mat- 
ters, but, by giving her a headache, only made them 
worse. For Janey’s sake, for the expected baby’s 


240 


THE DEVASTATORS 


sake, even for poor old Thomas’s sake, she must 
keep up. She would keep up. So she resolutely 
dried her eyes, straightened her hat, and sought to 
occupy herself with the real that was around her, 
to the exclusion of dreams that made her ill. 

The wheat, she noticed, was tall and strong — 
looking very well. Taking a foot-path through one 
of the Dorlcote fields, she gathered an ear, rubbed 
the juicy grains out of the green husk, and ate 
them. The hay grass was in flower — it was to be 
cut, she believed, to-morrow, if this weather held — 
she discovered a pimpernel wide open, and so would 
be able to assure Uncle Gordon, before he slept, 
that it was going to hold. There were red poppies 
at the edges of the crop. She gathered some ; they 
wilted in her hand, and she threw them away. A 
bunch of dog-roses she dragged from a high hedge 
and pinned into her muslin frock, torn in getting 
them. She tracked down a honeysuckle that tanta- 
lized her with an unidentified perfume among the 
many mingling in the cooling air ; she followed the 
flight of unusual moths from leaf to leaf. And so 
she strayed until she presently found herself on 
Rumford land, and not far from the colony of Rum- 
ford pets which, upon the mistress’s advent, the 
master had founded at a safe distance from the 
house, and put under the care of his factotum, 
William. 

It was really Thomas who had led her that way, 
as if he knew what would best comfort her. In 
an artful fashion, as if quartering for game — which 


THE DEVASTATORS 


241 


she thought he was (and here it was no deadly 
crime, as on neighbouring estates at this time of 
the year) — he pattered along in curves, silently, 
nose to ground, but always keeping his line, until 
suddenly another dog barked. Then he stopped and 
looked at her, pricking his ears ; responsively she 
pricked hers, her eyes brightened, she even smiled. 

“ Oh, I must go and see how they are,” she said 
to him, “ now that I am so near.” 

He ran ahead; she followed, with a sprightlier 
step than had been possible an hour ago. First 
into a strip of wood and shrubbery, which made 
a great bower and sanctuary for birds innumerable ; 
then into a rambling congeries of yards, full of 
miscellaneous live creatures, convalescent cripples 
for the most part, among whom Thomas made 
himself perfectly at home. A ragged jackdaw ran 
to peck his toes, quite playfully, while doves from a 
fir plantation came down in clouds upon his mis- 
tress’s head and shoulders. She had to put them 
out of her eyes with both hands, to see her way 
to William’s cottage door. Arrived there, and 
peering in, she was confronted with a vision that 
was like the answer of Heaven to the cravings of 
her lonely heart — Dr. Dallas himself, whom she had 
believed to be far away. He sat bent forward, his 
bony hands clasped over the top of a stout walking- 
stick, the door light full on his dignified profile and 
the uncovered curves of his fine brow, from which 
the hair had receded, altering his expression 
strangely. How aged he was! How terribly thin 


242 


THE DEVASTATORS 


and bleached! But the kind, good, thoughtful 
face had all its first beauty for her. Inside the 
kitchen William was shouting to a pack of dogs 
excited by finding themselves at such close quar- 
ters with him — they had been called in for the 
squire’s inspection — and her approaching footstep 
was unheard. But the moment her shadow touched 
the threshold Dr. Dallas turned and saw her. 
Neither spoke. The greeting they exchanged was 
of that sort which does not require words. They 
simply clasped hands, and looked at one another. 
The man, too, saw changes that struck him with 
concern. 

“ You I ” he ejaculated at last, on a long breath. 
“ Why, I thought ” 

“ So did I,” broke in Peggy. “ I hadn’t an 
idea ” 

I thought you were living in London now ? ” 

“ I am — we are — ^that is, I do live there now. 
But city life does not suit our little girl very well. 
I have brought her to Dorlcote for a change.” 

“Ah! I am sorry. She is better, I hope? 
You are not having any real anxiety about her?” 

“ Oh, no ; she is getting quite fat. You — I 

heard you were abroad ? ” 

“We were, in the winter, but we came to Lon- 
don in the spring.” Though each said “ we,” no 
inquiries were made after the absent partners. “ I 
am like your little girl — I, too, find that city life 
does not agree with me ; I suppose because I have 
never been used to it.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


243 

‘‘ You look ill,” said Peggy. “ What is the 
matter?” 

Alas! the same complaint that was sapping her 
own vitality. 

'' Only homesick, I think,” smiled he. “ I have 
been pining away for Rumford — for trees and fields 
— and the old friends. But ” — they turned toward 
their humble host — “ now that I have come, I find 
myself just a little of a stranger to them. It is 
quite natural, seeing how long I have been away ; 
but still it is something of a shock. I am delighted 
to see it; it shows me how thoroughly William has 
done his duty by them. It is but right and fair 
that he should be number one now.” 

Cupboard love, sir,” quoth William, knocking 
away the fawning animals. “ Just cupboard love — 
nothing in the world else.” 

But Dr. Dallas looked at the creatures with a 
set of the lip that made Peggy’s heart ache for him. 
" What — even dogs ! ” he seemed to be saying to 
himself. She drew to his side, as if to assure him 
that he still had a comrade. I, at any rate, am 
with you ; we are in the same boat, and can feel 
for each other,” her attitude seemed to say. 

'' I must take them out,” said old William, tact- 
fully, '' or you and the lady’ll never hear yourselves 
speak. Come on, you varmints ! Can’t you be- 
have yourselves when your master comes to see 
ye?” 

He hobbled from the room, and the dogs of the 
establishment streamed after him. But Thomas 


244 


THE DEVASTATORS 


stayed, crept to his old friend’s knee, and laid a 
loving nose upon it. Well he remembered the 
arms that had lifted him from the gate, the gentle 
hands that had bound up his wounds long ago. 
Those hands now took the grizzled head between 
them. “ He has not forgotten me,” Dr. Dallas 
murmured, and Peggy divined a tear behind the 
spectacles at which Thomas gazed so earnestly. 

“ No one has forgotten you,” she breathed 
deeply. 

Then the long-severed friends talked in quiet, 
friendly fashion, making up arrears of news, always 
carefully avoiding a few subjects. The mother 
talked of her little Janey, the writer of his book — 
sadly falling behind and disappointing his expecta- 
tions, it appeared ; both of their mutual friend 
Keith Macdonald, whom Dr. Dallas had seen yes- 
terday in Dareham; and the latter described some 
of his travels, sprinkling the narrative with anec- 
dotes connected with dumb living things. They 
went into the yard to inspect hutches and kennels ; 
they skulked about the shrubberies, peering for the 
tranquil nests ; they drifted into the park and the 
woods, Peggy taking by-ways home and Dr. Dallas 
escorting her. Thomas scouted ahead, sniffing the 
trail of hares and pheasants, pointing at hidden par- 
tridges, which fared as the wild birds on this un- 
preserved, yet so w^ell preserved, estate. A quiet 
“ Come here, sir,” held him from the chase when 
every nerve quivered with the hunter’s excitement, 
and no little household was violated. The pair be- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


245 


hind him loitered ever slower and slower, filling 
themselves with the beauty of the hour and the 
comfort of their brief companionship. 

“ Can you understand one choosing to live in 
London streets in June ? ” No answer was required 
to the question, and it got none. Dr. Dallas threw 
back his head to watch a squirrel, put up by 
Thomas, frisk into the green roof rafters above 
them. Peggy stood still, and looked up also. An- 
other ball of fur and fluffy tail appeared, another 
pair of bright eyes peering down upon them. Little 
husband and wife, mated for life, asking nothing 
but to have each other, their leafy summer play- 
ground, their winter equivalent for the domestic 
hearth — protected, as here, from their human perse- 
cutors — what happy creatures! Other creatures 
peeped from wayside shelters, scuttled from the 
path, or carried on the family business that ab- 
sorbed them, without fear of eye or foot. For once, 
the terrible gods of their universe looked down 
upon and walked among them without wanting to 
raven or destroy. 

''They all have their homes,” the man mused 
aloud, as they passed from woods to fields, step- 
ping out of green shadow into golden spaces of 
air, alive with lightsome wings — swifts, swallows, 
bats, chasing the evening moths and midges. " It 
is not England that these birds have come back to 
from the ends of the earth, but their own little inch 
or two of private territory, the hole or corner where 
they nest. That is the end and object of every 


246 


THE DEVASTATORS 


journey, long or short.. The remainder of this 
globe is but exercise and feeding ground.’^ 

Rumford house came into view, beautiful and 
solitary, no light in its broad windows, no smoke 
rising from its once warm hearth. 

“ Have you come back to live ? ” asked Peggy. 

‘‘ No,” he said, heavily. 

“Will you be coming, do you think?” 

“ I fear not.” He added, draggingly, “ Mrs. 
Dallas has an impression that the place does not 
suit her.” 

“ A pity,” sighed Peggy. “ Are you staying 
there now ? ” 

“ For a night only. I go back to-morrow. And 
you ? ” 

“ I think I shall not be going for some weeks 
yet.” 

They were not like the birds, these homeless 
home lovers. 

Nor were they of the stuff of which Harry Bed- 
ingfields and Mimi Carters are made, for, on reach- 
ing Dorlcote gate, she did not ask him in, and he 
did not propose to call upon her. No, this heav- 
enly hour had been vouchsafed them, a free gift 
from fate, and “ something told them,” as Keith 
would have said, that they must be satisfied with 
that — the “ something ” being the fine sense of hon- 
our and duty which had forbidden the slightest allu- 
sion to their mutual misfortune, the secret sorrows 
for which they had been temporarily consoled. “ I 
go back to-morrow.” There was nothing but that 


THE DEVASTATORS 


247 

delicate scruple to prevent him from staying a week 
or a month. 

Across the dimming fields, miles away, they 
heard a cuckoo call. Dr. Dallas seemed to shrink 
at the sound, so soft and fairy-like. “ A sweet 
note,” he said, “ but I can not bear to hear it.” 
He was thinking, she knew, of those little homes. 
It was past nine o’clock, but the larks were singing 
yet, and to these they both listened, with upturned 
faces, as to angels in the sky. They hardly left off 
for an hour these light nights. And the Dorlcote 
nightingales were there to bridge the gap, and carry 
on the concert till morning. Three happy little 
wives, sitting in a maze of roots and rubbish be- 
neath the social trees, each guarded by her con- 
stant husband, could brood in peace. 

‘‘ One,” said Peggy, “ nests in an old nut bush 
near my window. Her mate sings to her from an 
apple tree beside it. They come every year to the 
same place.” 

“ Yes,” said Dr. Dallas. And they stood silent, 
listening, with full hearts. The gate was open, and 
Thomas had vanished up the drive. In pauses of 
the love-song in the orchard, the distant cuckoo was 
heard again — sweet-voiced violator of the wood- 
land sanctuary. The man held out his hand. The 
woman laid hers into it. Tears swam in her brave 
eyes, and perhaps in his; it was too dark now to 
see. Had they known it was the final parting, they 
could not have been more moved. Not another 
word was spoken. Reverently, as if taking conse- 


248 


THE DEVASTATORS 


crated bread, he raised her hand to his bowed face. 
Another moment, and they had turned from each 
other and gone their lonely ways. 

She could not sleep. The nightingale in the 
apple tree agonized her with his tale, that was such 
a satire upon her own. In a pearly interstice of 
the bough that had leafed so thickly since he came 
to it in April, and was now a bower of shadows 
and mystery, she could detect the quivering spot 
that was his throat, puffed out with the music of 
his faithful passion, bubbling from it like storm 
water from a gargoyle on a church roof. She 
watched it through the short night, kneeling at her 
low window-seat, with the casement open, and pic- 
tured the sitting mother complacently accepting 
her mate’s homage and unremitting care as a matter 
of course. Little as Peggy was given to such acts 
of weakness, she wept convulsively and was still 
weeping when the larks, that had hushed for a 
little, began to soar and trill once more. “ Why 
am I such a fool ? ” she asked herself, struggling 
in vain with the sadness that overpowered her. The 
reason was that her physical strength was draining 
out of her through the wound in her loving heart. 

On the afternoon of that day she had a visit 
from Keith. 

“ Why, Keith,” she greeted him cheerfully, 
“ what brings you here ? ” 

“ I heard you were not looking well, Peggy,” 
said Keith, scrutinizing her gravely as he shook 
hands. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


249 


Now, whom did you hear that from?’’ she 
gaily inquired, and almost immediately clapped 
handkerchief to her eyes to hide the springing 
tears. Crying is like dram drinking ; once you give 
way to it, you don’t know how to stop. One note 
of Keith’s voice, so reminiscent of the old times 
at Kiewarara, when family affection and protection 
were as unfailing as meals and bed, sufficed to upset 
her self-control. Keith’s left hand, joining his right 
and hers, slipped down to her wrist with a firm, 
professional touch, that removed them both from 
the quaking ground of personal feeling, the sphere 
of sex and sentiment. His face changed subtly as 
he tested her pulse. Hers, instantly responsive, 
calmed and cleared. 

“ See here, Peggy,” he earnestly exhorted her. 
“ You are away from your mother ” — he did not say 
your husband,” which was what he meant— “ and 
you want looking after. Yes, I know that Grace 
is very devoted and your uncle kindness itself ; but 
just now you need a little medical advice. Don’t 
tell me you don’t; I know better. Now, will you 
have me for your doctor, or would you rather I 
sent Dickenson out to see you?” 

How do they manage it, those gentlemen of 
gentlemen, who can preserve the purity of pro- 
fessional relationship even under circumstances 
such as these? Keith spoke to and looked at Peggy 
— the woman who was the world to him- — ^with such 
an utter effacement of all signs of a lay interest in 
her that Dr. Dickenson could not have been less 


250 


THE DEVASTATORS 


formidable. And Dr. Dickenson was old and out 
of date, whereas Dr. Macdonald was full of all mod- 
ern enlightenments. 

If you insist in that way,” sighed Peggy, ‘‘ I 
would sooner it were you, Keith, than a stranger.” 

“ Then let us have a little medical talk,” said he, 
with a business-like glance at his watch. “ Five 
minutes, before I go to see your uncle and tell him 
that I have taken charge of you.” He did not 
mean to recognise the husband while the uncle 
could fill the place, but that v/as only for her sake. 

They had their medical talk — easily and frankly, 
in concise questions and answers — and thenceforth 
the task of his life was to be her efficient medical 
adviser and nothing more. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


Some weeks later, the prodigal in London 
began to reap his wild oats. As usual, he gathered 
a crop of husks, fit only for swine. 

He lived in suburban' London ; Mrs. Dallas — 
with Dr. Dallas somewhere, occasionally visible — in 
the heart of Mayfair. It had not taken her long to 
tire of Rumford and a society whose knowledge of 
her went back too far. An early house party 
included a splendid soldier-man, who, by reason of 
professional duties, was unable to repeat his visit. 
The big house became a desert island, as it were; 
parish benevolences palled ; the little lady persuaded 
Dr. Dickenson that she was not well, and her hus- 
band that the place did not suit her. He took her 
to the Riviera when it was no easy matter to get 
rooms, and to other health resorts at the climax of 
their respective seasons. A temporary foothold in 
London developed into a town house; and there 
she was, with her liveried servants and all the para- 
phernalia of fashion, the florist coming every day 
and the splendid soldier-man three times a week. 

Harry did not know about the soldier-man, and 
took no account of a swarm of lesser rivals. A 


251 


252 


THE DEVASTATORS 


handsome young person, male or female, does not 
easily see himself or herself outshone, and the eyes of 
such, short-sighted as they are, may be blinded alto- 
gether with the very smallest amount of dust. When 
Mimi said, or implied, that she loved but him, Harry 
accepted the assurance without question, because 
he could not conceive a thing more rational and 
likely. She said it in plain words when she bade 
him good-bye as she was leaving Rumford, which 
was the reason why, after she was gone, he could 
not settle to work, nor content himself at home, nor 
get on with his father, nor tolerate the insipidity of 
Dareham life. She said it again at a time which 
proved even more inopportune for saying it, and 
when the consequences of doing so were even more 
calamitous. 

“ You know I love you, Harry,” said she, 
“ though I ought not to say it, things being as they 
are ” — for Mrs. Dallas was nothing if not virtuous — 
“ and I should not say it if I were not so sorry for 
you, poor boy, in your lonely life ! If I did not love 
you, should I have stayed here all this time, until 
there is not a soul left except ourselves ? I have done 
it, darling, for your sake, just because I could not 
bear to desert you when you had no one else.” 

Oh, you angel ! ” responded Harry, clasping 
her to his heart. They sat side by side on a very 
soft Chesterfield sofa in her small back drawing- 
room. She wore a white silk tea-gown and her 
golden hair in a casual Langtry knot. It was six 
o’clock of a hot day. The blinds were down, the 


THE DEVASTATORS 


253 

house quiet, callers abroad, and the husband down at 
Rumford to see his pets. 

“ Harry, Harry, you must not kiss me any more ! 
It is so wrong, you know ! ” 

“ I know it is,'' he groaned ; but how can I help 
it when you look so beautiful ? " 

“ There," said she, struggling to sit up a little, 
“ that just bears out what has been troubling me so 
much. If you did not see me, Harry, you would 
think less about me." 

“ No, indeed, Mimi ! Only a great lot more. 
But you know well enough that I can't live without 
seeing you." 

“ Harry, you must not say such things. What 
I meant and wished to be to you was just a dear, con- 
fidential sister " 

Oh, rot ! " he broke in again. ‘‘ A sister ! 
Now ! " 

A sister," she repeated firmly. “We were 
brought up as children like brother and sister, and 
that is the only relationship, dearest." 

“ If we ever had that relationship, we have got 
beyond it this many a day." 

“ Just so," she assented, sadly. “ Alas ! we have. 
Being driven, as we were, into our unfortunate mar- 
riages — being tied, as we are, to those who can not 
understand us — we might, perhaps, say that we have 
not been altogether to blame; but, Harry, when 
you begin to talk about not being able to live with- 
out seeing me, doesn't that show that the time has 
come to put the brake down? " 


17 


254 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ I have been putting the brake down hard. The 
worst of it is, it won’t bite.” 

“ The worst of it — ah, there you say it ! It won’t 
bite because the wheels are running downhill too 
fast. That is what I, too, have been realizing of late. 
Now, my dear boy, I have made up my mind not to 
let you go down any deeper. I should be no true 
friend, no faithful sister, if I could not make a little 
sacrifice to help you with that brake — you acknowl- 
edge to trying to stop yourself ; in fact, we both 
know where duty lies, do we not ? ” 

Oh, what’s the use of talking like that?” he 
returned, still kissing her, because she looked so 
beautiful. 

“ It is not talk only,” she continued with a 
brisk air, again shaking herself free. “ I am taking 
steps to do what I think right. The reason I 
allowed you in now was to say good-bye, Harry.” 

“ What? ” he exclaimed, open-mouthed. 

“ To say good-bye,” she repeated, rising. “ I 
am going to take temptation from you.” 

“ You are not going away? ” 

“ I am going to the seaside, and I am not going 
to tell you where — for your own sake, dear; and I 
lay my solemn command on you not to try to find 
out. London in August, you know, is really too 
preposterous; it has affected my health. But for 
you I should have flown long since. Every one is 
wondering why I do not.” 

“ If you are going,” said the handsome, spoiled 
young man, “ I shall go too.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


255 

To Dorlcote, to your wife ? That is where you 
ought to go.” 

“To wherever you are going. .You will not be 
able to hide from me. I shall find you, wherever 
you are.” ' 

“ If you do ” 

She told him a few things that would happen in 
that case, and her sudden severity cowed rebellion on 
the spot. 

“Not even to see you off to-morrow?” he 
pleaded almost with tears. 

“vNo, Harry. When I say a thing I mean it. I 
have put my hand to the plough, and I am not 
going to turn back. This is good-bye, darling ! ” 

She stood before him all white and gold, with 
a face like a rose petal and eyes of the born enchan- 
tress. He fell upon her like a ravening wild animal, 
and nothing was heard for a time but kisses, sobs, 
and the crooning of her honeyed voice. 

But she was quite firm. She talked to him like 
a mother. Duty, duty, duty — that was the text of 
an exhortation that would have done credit to Mr. 
Chanter himself. The distraught lover went away 
at last — propelled literally by her white hand — 
under the impression that the seductive little demon 
was a saint on earth. 

He went home, imagining also that he was heart- 
broken ; threw aside newspapers, letters, business 
matters, even dinner, in order to indulge his grief ; 
then, desperately packing a few clothes for possible 
emergencies, took train again and repaired to a hotel 


THE DEVASTATORS 


256 

in town, unable to renounce a hope that she might 
receive him in the morning and rescind her order 
that he was not to see her off. Later in the evening 
his restless spirit dragged him into the streets and 
led him back to where he could see the lights in her 
windows and watch for her possible shadow on a 
blind. Those kisses of hers had so worked in his 
blood that he was all in a boiling fever of desire for 
some more — for anything that he could get, in fact, 
down to a shadow on a blind. 

While he watched, lurking under the railings of 
the square garden, a hansom drove up and stopped 
at her door. Out of it stepped a massive figure that 
could by no means be mistaken for that of the mas- 
ter of the house. It swaggered up the steps, it 
knocked confidently, it was admitted without parley, 
although Mimi had declared her intention to retire 
directly after dinner, because she was upset by the 
afternoon interview, and needed to recuperate for 
to-morrow’s journey. 

The man was the soldier-man. Harry knew it, 
and his boiling passion boiled over, like fat into the 
fire. What the deuce did this mean? What was 
this fellow doing with his (Harry’s) property, and 
at this unearthly hour ? For the matter of that, what 
was he doing with Dr. Dallas’s property. Dr. Dallas 
being away at Rumford ? 

The young reprobate had been trying to “ drown ” 
trouble, rather than fortify courage and dignity with 
a strengthening meal, and this may partly explain 
why he now found himself unable to exercise the 


THE DEVASTATORS 


257 


self-control that gentlemanly manners required of 
him. His fury carried him away, as if he had been 
a schoolboy of thirteen instead of an experienced 
business man of thirty-three. He started across the 
street with clinched hands and flaming eyes. As 
luck would have it, the door that had admitted the 
presumptuous interloper stood encouragingly ajar. 
The slack young footman on duty as hall porter, 
feeling, like his mistress, that London in August was 
preposterous, had strolled into the street to get a 
breath of air and exchange a word with a friend of 
his round the next corner. The soldier-man had not 
required to be led upstairs and announced; he had 
announced himself. Harry proceeded to do the 
same. 

Between the big drawing-room and the small 
one hung massive curtains in the place of doors. 
One little slip of a gap had been carelessly left by 
the soldier-man in swinging them together, for the 
danger of an eavesdropper was not supposed to 
exist. Here Harry paused, not to play the eaves- 
dropper, but to invent an excuse for his next step — 
something that would show him to the soldier-man 
as a familiar of the house, the old friend privileged 
to look after its mistress in her husband’s absence. 

Oh, I forgot to ask you ” — “ Oh, by the way ” — 
'' Oh, I just ran up to say ” — an opening sentence of 
this kind trembled on his tongue, while he composed 
his features to an expression of innocent uncon- 
sciousness of any third person being there. 

But the words were never spoken. And instead 


258 


THE DEVASTATORS 


of g'oing forward he stood statue-like where he was, 
and played the eavesdropper for full five minutes. 
Probably the most honourable of men in his position 
would have done the same. For, glancing through 
the gap between the curtains, he saw Mimi — in a 
new tea-gown, shimmering pink and green like a 
sunset cloud — lying upon the breast of the stalwart 
soldier-man just as a few short hours before she had 
lain upon his own. And this was no mere every-day 
soldier-man ; he was a titled person, and a conspicu- 
ous ornament of the Household Brigade. His pro- 
digious mustache, with its long waxed points, was 
one of the sights of London. 

“ At last ! ” she cooed, and that mustache swept 
down upon the little mouth and closed it. Then 
“ At last ” was repeated in a resonant bellow, “ at 
last I am free and at your disposal. What a good 
little woman to wait for me so long ! ’’ 

“ Ah, I would not have done it for any one else ! 
London in August, you know, is really preposterous. 
It has almost killed me.” 

“ Oh, the moors will soon put you right. Are 
you all ready to start to-morrow ? ” 

“ Quite. But, dearest, do you think it is wise 
for us to travel together ? Do you think it is right? ” 
“ As right as ninepence. Why, if we are both 
invited to the same house, and happen to fix on the 
same day, what more natural? We can call it an 
accident and a coincidence.” 

Oh, I hate anything underhand,” little Mimi 
protested, lifting angelic orbs to the bold red face 


THE DEVASTATORS 


259 


that towered above her. She had just sunk into 
the Chesterfield sofa, and the soldier-man was com- 
fortably tucking her within his curved arm. 

“ Pooh ! Why, my dear child, isn’t everything 
underhand in this deceitful world ? But here we are 
quite in order. You can’t mess about the railways 
without an escort — a lovely little piece of goods like 
you. And if your husband doesn’t choose to look 
after you and take care of you, other people must. 
It is their bounden duty.” 

I might go to the station, at any rate, by my- 
self, only that I am so afraid of falling in with 
the country bumpkin — if he sees me with only a 
maid.” 

What ! Has the country bumpkin been annoy- 
ing you again ? ” 

“ He has been a perfect nuisance. I never found 
any one so hard to keep in his place. He presumes 
upon our old acquaintance.” 

“ You are too amiable, my dear. You should 
let me talk to him. I’ll put him in his place pretty 
quick, if you leave it to me.” 

“ I’m afraid that would not do, darling ; it might 
lead to a fuss and complications. You see I have to 
remember that his father is our family lawyer, and 
that my husband would certainly stand by him.” 

If she had not said that, Harry would never have 
identified the country bumpkin, whom he too was 
yearning to talk to and teach his place. The dis- 
covery that she meant himself simply overwhelmed 
him. But worse followed. 


26 o 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“A nice sort of husband,” growled the sol- 
dier-man, '' to stand by the fellow who insults his 
wife!” 

Insults! So this was how his homage was 
described to any fellow out of the street I He, the 
young social king of Dareham, was made to appear 
a vulgar ruffian of the sort which “ annoys ” ladies 
when they are unprotected by husbands at home and 
escorts abroad! And a country bumpkin! Of the 
many horrible things revealed in the few words he 
had listened to, doubtless that was the one which 
shocked him most. It was a sword in his vitals. 
But for it he would have marched in upon the 
abominable pair, have given the soldier-man his 
chance to put him (Harry) in his place, at a risk that 
could not fail to prove a certainty, and have covered 
the abandoned woman with the obloquy that she 
deserved. The bitter thrust into the very core of his 
being robbed the stricken one of the strength to do 
it. Feeling quite sick and staggery, he turned upon 
his tracks through the dark outer drawing-room, 
with the geography of which he was familiar, crept 
downstairs and into the street, undiscovered even by 
the footman, who still gossiped with his friend round 
the corner. 

Needless to describe the fever and fury of the 
night. Sleep was far from the sufferer’s smarting 
eyes, and the brain that never ceased to picture the 
mingled beauty and depravity of the fallen idol — the 
idol to whom such costly oblations had been made. 
She, of course, slept like an infant — when she had 


THE DEVASTATORS 


261 


quite decided upon her gowns for Scotland ; she slept 
all the better for having, as she supposed, peacefully 
removed the other person out of her path — just for 
the present, while he was a superfluity and an 
obstacle. 

Harry rose in the morning with a white face, 
shaved with an unsteady hand, and went forth to 
denounce her. “ Something told him ” that it was 
a mistake, but he could not help it — could not deny 
himself the only satisfaction obtainable for the out- 
rage to his self-esteem. Bitterly did he regret his 
action afterward, but it was as well he took it, and a 
pity he had not taken it before. For when Mimi 
saw, as she quickly did, that all was lost, so far as 
this admirer was concerned, she was like the dis- 
guised devil of Ingoldsby legend when holy water 
was poured over her — 

“ Her bosom went in and her tail came out.” 

That is to say, her pretty wiles fell from her, and 
her native coarseness revealed itself, naked and ugly. 
The way she rated her old lover for his eavesdrop- 
ping and his impudence, and for generally being “ no 
gentleman,” was worthy of the traditional fishwife. 

‘‘What have I fallen to?” he thought, as he 
returned once more to his hotel, abased in such deeps 
of humiliation as he had never fathomed before. 
“ What is this to which I have sacrificed my good 
and faithful Peggy ? ” 

It took him some hours to recover his self-com- 
mand. When he felt better he ate some lunch, 


262 


THE DEVASTATORS 


repacked his bag, and called for the railway time- 
table. 

“ I will arise and go to my father,” said the 
prodigal of scripture, when he came to himself. If 
he had been a married prodigal he would have gone 
to his wife. 


CHAPTER XIX 


Although Harry had not seen his people for 
months, he made no pause at Dareham; rather, 
he shunned all the inhabitants of that place. First, 
to see Peggy — to get back into a position of do- 
mestic respectability; then he and she together 
would drive in, awkward questions would be 
avoided. Meanwhile he was glad, on the arrival 
of the train, to see no one on the station that he 
knew. He resolved not to court attention by look- 
ing for a vehicle to take him to Dorlcote, but to 
walk thither. He told himself that he needed ex- 
ercise, that there was no hurry, and that it was 
seldom one could enjoy the country on so sweet 
a night. He gave his bag to a porter, to keep 
until he called for it, and set forth. 

It was indeed a sweet night, and this its sweetest 
hour. As he left the last street behind him, a red 
full moon came over the edge of the harvest fields 
beyond, peeping at a red sunset on the opposite 
horizon, through an air that was like a bath to 
his spirit as well as to his lungs ; and the look of the 
twilight landscape was peace itself. It was August 
now — actually August ! The grain that Peggy had 

263 


264 


THE DEVASTATORS 


squeezed juice out of on her last evening walk was 
golden ripe; here and there a patch of stubble- 
and shadowy sheaves diversified the pale sea dim- 
pling in the breeze. The sight was almost a shock 
to him, reminding him how long it was since he 
had seen her. He reckoned up the weeks of ab- 
sence, and said to himself that it was positively 
awful how time flew without one’s knowing it. 

Poor old Peg! Had she been able, how she 
would have liked to come and meet him, and saunter 
by his side through the fragrant night ! But the 
shortening days were already closing with dews and 
mists ; this was no time for her to be out of doors. 
He hoped she was resting quietly after dinner, and 
imagined the look on her face on seeing him walk 
in, the feel of her kind arms that never repulsed 
him, whatever he did. Poor old girl! Well, she 
should not have to complain of him any more. 
That night they would turn over a new leaf to- 
gether. He would show her and everybody what 
a good, domestic husband he was going to be. 
Never before had family life appeared so pleasant, 
so comfortable, so obviously the natural refuge from 
a thorny, treacherous, disappointing world. 

He gave paternal consideration to the welfare 
and education of little Janey. Dear little kiddie — 
so fond of her father ! If she got fat in the country, 
as reported by her careful mother, why, the best 
thing they could do would be to leave London and 
settle in Dareham again, or in the country some- 
where. The health of Peggy and the children was 


THE DEVASTATORS 


265 

of more consequence than anything else, and he 
did not wish a daughter of his to grow up in the 
pernicious moral atmosphere from which he had 
just escaped. That was a most important point — 
to remove her from the chance of contamination 
while she was yet a child. And then there was the 
new baby, which of course was to be a boy — he 
also had to be thought of. The son of the house 
must have every advantage from the beginning, 
so as to be made a fine man of in the end ; whole- 
some air and plenty of good milk to lay the founda- 
tions soundly, early public school, and Cambridge 
afterward, and the glory of great achievements to 
crown his parents’ declining years. Although, as 
to that, father and mother, rejuvenated by the new 
conditions, would live, in the sense of enjoying life, 
almost as long as he. 

These were his musings as he walked through 
the quiet lanes, where the blackberries were ripen- 
ing and the wild-rose hips reddening, if he could have 
seen them; and it would be impossible to describe 
how good he felt, how good he meant to be. The 
peaceful solitude was such that he saw only two 
persons all the way from the outskirts of Dareham 
to the outskirts of the hamlet that neighboured 
Dorlcote. One of these was a poacher, skulking 
on the fringes of Rumford woods — a paradise for 
poachers — his clever lurcher at his heels ; the other 
flashed across the mouth of the last lane as Harry 
was emerging from it, and was conjectured to be 
his one-time chum and best man, Keith Macdonald. 


266 


THE DEVASTATORS 


He drove a fast horse in a light, two-wheeled vehi- 
cle, and was gone before he could be intercepted. 
Not that Harry desired to intercept him — far from 
it ; the drudging country practitioner had long 
ceased to hold place among the interests of his life, 
except as an old acquaintance of Peggy’s. The 
thought that he was so near Peggy as to be seeing 
her often — that possibly he had come from a visit 
to her now — did cause a momentary annoyance 
to the returning husband, but not at all for any 
reason of jealousy of the common kind. Peggy’s 
faithfulness and prudence were beyond suspicion, 
and Macdonald was not the sort of man to com- 
mend himself sentimentally to any normal woman. 
Handsome Harry Bedingfield smiled at the idea 
of such a thing. 

Yet he had been made a trifle uneasy by that 
wanderer of the night, encountered so near Dorl- 
cote. It was not the hour for him to pay calls, 
except in the way of business. His more likely 
errand, if it was he, pointed to a sick-bed. Whose? 
The date of Peggy’s confinement was some weeks 
off, and no word had reached Harry of anything 
being wrong; besides, she would certainly, in that 
case, have sent for Dickenson, the family doctor of 
all the Bedingfields, and his mother would have 
known of it, and taken charge ; moreover, Keith — 
if it was Keith — was driving away from Dorlcote, 
and not toward it. Still, the pedestrian quickened 
his pace, having a doubt that he would be glad to 
set at rest as soon as possible. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


267 

The hamlet seemed asleep as he passed through 
it, and the stillness of the closed cottages with the 
moonshine on the roofs was reassuring. But when 
he reached the gate in the Dorlcote road fence, 
which now inclosed the whole of his valued posses- 
sions, his prophetic heart sank. For the gate was 
open, and where the private road came out the moon 
showed fresh marks of wheels and hoofs distinctly. 
At once he knew — “ something told him — that 
Macdonald’s horse and trap had made them ; and 
though the fact did not necessarily imply disaster, 
he knew with equal certainty that that was what it 
meant. It was too like the mocking ways of fate to 
trip him up at such a moment — ^just when he was 
going to be so happy and so good ! 

He ran the distance to the garden gate, startling 
the quiet cows in the home field, and plunged into 
the tunnel of shadow under moon-blackened trees 
which led to the open lawns around the house. 
Emerging, he stood on the grass in front to interro- 
gate doors and windows, before daring to ask ques- 
tions of human lips and eyes. Was it Peggy ? Was 
it Janey? Was it, by fortunate chance, only Uncle 
Le Marchand? 

The house said nothing. As it was quite night 
now, and growing late and chilly, all the windows 
were shut and the blinds down. Through those of 
the dining-room, trellised with leaden lines of the 
diamond-patterned panes, the usual lamplight shone ; 
but the usual lamplight of the drawing-room at this 
hour — when Peggy was in residence, at any rate — 


268 


THE DEVASTATORS 


was quenched. A small candle gleam wandered 
from casement to casement upstairs ; and the kitchen 
illuminated a garden path, but her bed-chamber was 
dark. It therefore seemed that neither she nor 
Janey, who both slept in it, could be ill. Either they 
had retired early and were asleep, or Peggy was sit- 
ting with her uncle in his smoky little den instead 
of he with her in the drawing-room. She was prob- 
ably nursing him there, as his bedroom was also in 
darkness. 

Not in the least relieved by these reflections, 
Harry stole like a burglar to the front door, and tried 
the handle before ringing. It turned, and he went 
in. The first thing he saw was Janey on Mr. Le 
Marchand’s knee, and the first thing he heard was 
the sound of agonized grief, startling and shocking 
as expressed by so young a child. His poor little, 
old-fashioned, tricksy Janey! She sobbed on the 
old man’s breast, and every sob ran up into a wailing 
shriek while she pressed her mouth against him and 
shook with her effort not to make too loud a noise. 
He nursed her on a bench in the hall, helplessly 
hushing and coaxing her, his austerely dignified 
face screwed into strange contortions. 

Then it was Peggy. 

The visitor stood a moment, sick and stunned. 
Then his daughter flew down the hall, leaped on 
him as he stooped to receive her, and clasped his 
neck in a strangling embrace. 

“Father!” she cried, piercingly. “Father! ! 
Father ! ! ! ” At each repetition of the only word 


THE DEVASTATORS 


269 

she could utter her voice rose and sharpened, until 
he thought she would send herself into convul- 
sions. 

He found a husky voice to soothe her. “ My 
little woman! Hush, hush, Janey! Be quiet, 
child, and tell father what’s the matter. What is it, 
Janey ? ” But over her head he looked for the 
answer, his eyes aglare with dread. 

“ Harry I ” Mr. Le Marchand advanced to meet 
him, the lines of his fine gray face almost as stiff as 
usual. “ So you could not catch the morning 
train?” 

“ Why ? ” gasped Harry from his dry throat. 

What for? You did not send for me? ” 

“We got the first telegram off before nine 
o’clock. We reckoned it would reach you in time 
for that train. We addressed it to your house. I 
suppose you were not at home ? ” 

“ I — I — I was out last night. I never got it. 
For God’s sake, what’s up? Is Peggy ill? ” 

The muscles of the stern face twitched. “ If 
you could have caught that train, you would have 
been in time. If even you had hurried now — 
driven instead of walked — you might have seen her 
alive, though she would not have known you. She 
— went — about half an hour ago.” 

“ Ah-h-h ! ” breathed Harry, with a sinking 
intonation. He seemed to have known it all along, 
and yet the blow struck him down. It was as if a 
spring had broken in him and all the machinery 
of life come to a dead stop, while the music of the 
18 


2/0 


THE DEVASTATORS 


whirring wheels still vibrated on the air. He 
dropped upon the nearest chair, and Janey began to 
wail afresh, and to blaspheme innocently against the 
God, who, she had been informed, was responsible 
for their joint loss. The strangest ideas she had as 
to what he wanted her mother for — to cook his eggs 
for breakfast was one of them, Peggy having always 
boiled her husband’s on the table of a morning when 
they were both at home, because no servant would 
do it to his liking ; and Janey opined that there were 
plenty of other angels who could have been taught 
the art. It helped Harry against utterly giving way 
to be angry with the idiots who had allowed the sen- 
sitive child to know more than she was able to bear, 
and to have to counteract them with consolatory 
words. But her Father, don’t cry — I will cook 
your eggs for you,” brought the tears bursting 
from him. In time she swallowed her sobs, for his 
sake, pressing them down with clinched hands on 
her heaving chest, and presently consented to be led 
away to bed by Grace, who did not weep, but wore 
a granite look to Harry’s mind, so that it was not 
necessary for her to speak to tell him that she blamed 
him for something, if not for all. The child was 
not repelled by the woman’s hard demeanour, but 
gazed at her father as she was borne from the hall 
with eyes that were like chain traces to drag him 
after her. 

“ I’ll come, Janey ; I’ll come when you are into 
bed,” he assured her. Then, as her woebegone 
face disappeared up the stairs, he turned to Mr. Le 


THE DEVASTATORS 


271 

Marchand, standing stiffly a few paces apart, waiting 
to be questioned. 

“ Tell me about it. I don’t understand.” 

“ None of us can understand,” said the master of 
the house, weighing each word deliberately. “ She 
had not been in good spirits for some time, but 
always brightened up if spoken to about it, and said 
she was quite well. I should have sent for you much 
earlier, but she would not have you bothered. She 
said you would come when you found it convenient 
to get away.” 

“ If you only had ! ” moaned Harry. His head 
was in his hands, propped on his spread knees, and 
he ground his teeth together. 

“ This morning she took ill — or, rather, last 
night, only she would not wake anybody till day- 
light. Too soon, of course, but there did not seem 
any reason to be particularly anxious — so Grace 
said ; and we sent for Macdonald and the nurse, and 
telegraphed to you, and never supposed that things 
were not going on as they always do. I don’t know 
what went wrong — you must ask Macdonald — but 
at noon he wanted another opinion, and we sent 
for Dickenson. The two of them stayed with her 
till close on six, and then they came to tell me there 
was no hope. She was unconscious, and sinking, 
and did not know us again. The child was dead 
from the first— a boy. Dickenson left after having 
a bit of dinner — no more use, he said. Macdonald 
is just gone. He stuck to her to the last. He 
could not have done more for her if she had been his 


2/2 


THE DEVASTATORS 


own wife.” The cynic looked away from Harry 
while delivering this keen thrust. “ He told us to 
let him know when you came.” 

“ I will ride over and see him,” said Harry, rous- 
ing himself, “ if you will lend me a horse.” 

He rose, as if to start at once. “ But first ” 

“ In her room,” said Mr. Le Marchand politely, 
pointing toward the stairs. Then, turning on his 
heel sharply, he went to his smoky den and shut him- 
self in, leaving the widower to his devices. 

She was in her room, alone. He lit two candles 
on the chimneypiece, and two more on the dressing- 
table, walked to the ponderous four-poster, and 
swept aside the clean, fine, lavender-scented sheet so 
carefully arranged all over it. She lay composed, 
with limbs straightened and eyes shut, but otherwise 
just as she had died less than an hour ago, the warmth 
of life not yet ebbed away, and her red hair curling 
about the pillows, where it escaped the bandage sup- 
porting her chin. He leaned over to listen at her 
heart, at her lips, and to feel where the pulse should 
have been bounding with joy at his return; then 
stood still and looked at her in anguish that was 
beyond speech or tears. He had got his deserts, 
indeed ! 

The truest woman — the best wife — that ever 
walked the earth ! Yes. That was her transcendent 
beauty in death. What mattered the colour of her 
hair now, or the shape of her nose ? What mattered 
anything any more ? As she lay, she represented to 
her husband all the essential loveliness of his life — 


THE DEVASTATORS 


273 

snatched from him unawares and irretrievably, be- 
cause he had not known how to value it. 

He passed into the dressing-room — his own 
dressing-room, belonging to the large chamber 
which he would share with her no more — and there 
found the wax-doll figure of the still-born infant, 
the boy so long desired, for whom he had made so 
many plans. The ineffectual morsel, already mar- 
ble-cold, dressed in one of the delicate robes pre- 
pared for its use in life, lay on the top of a chest of 
drawers, covered with a napkin. When the cloth 
was withdrawn, the father looked at the babe per- 
functorily, as a thing outside the sphere of his intol- 
erable sufferings. How much the loss of their son 
would have meant to both, if she had lived ! Now, 
it did not matter. Nothing mattered — except, of 
course, Janey. Harry kept that one clew to light 
and hope in the drowning darkness ; he must do all 
the good things he had meant to do — and more — 
for Peggy’s daughter’s sake. 

Next door to the dressing-room she lay in her 
small cot, watched over by Grace, who, as he 
entered, rose, passed him with compressed lips, and 
left him with all the questions he wanted to ask her 
unspoken — questions which only a woman, and one 
so intimately concerned in the catastrophe, could 
answer. She closed the door behind her, and he sat 
down in the chair she had vacated, and looked at 
Janey by the light of a shaded candle, dumbly im- 
ploring her to wake — to wake and tell him what her 
mother had done and said and looked like during 


THE DEVASTATORS 


274 

those weeks and months that could never be recalled 
or atoned for. Had she fretted and complained? 
Had she been strong and brave and forgiving to the 
last? He did not know which of the two things 
would be more heart-breaking for him to bear, but 
he ached to hear it. And all at once it occurred to 
him that he had received a letter from her yester- 
day — yesterday — and had been too taken up with 
another woman to remember to open and read it! 
He could not even recollect where he had laid it 
down when it was brought to him. It was in the 
London house somewhere, knocking about with the 
tradesmen’s circulars. 

Janey was too worn out to be roused again. She 
sobbed still, but she was asleep ; even the spell of his 
fixed eyes was powerless. He examined her little 
limbs — they were certainly fatter than they had been 
in London ; he straightened the pillow and her night- 
gown — beautiful with her mother’s fine needlework ; 
wept on her soft hair, kissed it, and crept away. 

The doors of Peggy’s room were locked now, 
and people moving within. He had seen her as she 
had lived for the last time ; now she had become an 
impersonal corpse, even to her own people. Pass- 
ing down the stairs, he smelt tobacco in the direction 
of Mr. Le Marchand’s sanctum, and avoided that 
room also. The veteran had turned involuntarily 
to the only constant comforter of his lonely years, 
but the widower could not follow his example yet. 
He went on to the stable yard, where Benjamin sat 
in the moonlight on an inverted bucket, he, too, try- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


275 


ing to solace a sad heart with the companionable 
pipe; which, however, disappeared into his pocket 
the instant he saw Harry. 

“ A bad job this, sir,” said Benjamin, standing up 
and touching his hat. 

“ A bad job, indeed,’’ returned Harry, steadily. 
“ Can I have the bay mare, Ben ? ” 

She’s all saddled and ready, sir. I didn’t know 
as how I mightn’t be wanted to go somewheres at 
any minute. The master said something about a 
message to Dr. Macdonald, to tell him you was 
come.” 

“ I am going myself to see Dr. Macdonald.” 

Very good, sir. She’s been twice to the town 
a’ready, so if you wouldn’t mind taking her along a 
bit easy — you’ll excuse my speaking of such things ? 
And p’raps you might think to ask Dr. Macdonald’s 
boy to have a bit of cloth thrown over her if she 
stands outside to wait for you ? I’m sorry to men- 
tion it, but the night is turning cold.” 

Even Benjamin was faithful to his duty toward 
a helpless creature in his care. 

“All right, Ben. I’ll tell him. Good-night. 
You may as well go to bed. I’ll put the mare up 
when I come home.” 

“ Oh, don’t you trouble, sir ; I’ll be here to attend 
to her. Don’t you trouble about anything” 

Harry mounted and rode out of the yard, under- 
standing that he had been intelligently sympathized 
with, if sympathy could do him any good in this 
dreadful pass. Yesterday— only yesterday !— she 


THE DEVASTATORS 


276 

was alive and well, and he could at least have had her 
forgiveness, if he could not have saved her life. To- 
night the still air echoed the tap, tap, tap of the ham- 
mer of the village undertaker, making her coffin. 
How could any one’s sympathy avail him now? 
And he did not deserve that a crawling snail should 
pity him. 


CHAPTER XX 

He rode back to Dareham, doubling the miles of 
his recent walk, which he seemed to have taken years 
ago, and all the way heard with his mind’s ear, as 
plainly as he heard the tired trot of the old mare, 
that tap, tap of the hammer on the nails of the coffin 
that he wished was his own as well as Peggy’s. 
Arrived at the street where she used to live, he dis- 
mounted under Macdonald’s red lamp, and knocked 
at his door. The housekeeper, who barely opened 
it, seemed disinclined at first to let him in. 

The doctor is — ” she was going to say out,” 
but changed the sentence and her tone when she 
recognised the visitor. “ Oh, it is yow, Mr. Beding- 
field! Come in, sir. I will send the boy to take 
your horse. The doctor is so upset that he does not 
want to see patients to-night, if he can help it.” 
Voice, face, and gesture, as in Benjamin’s case, con- 
doled with the widower more impressively than 
words. 

Vaguely comforted, after the cruel coldness of 
Mr. Le Marchand and Grace, having the sense of 
being among friends, he passed her with a silent 
hand-grip and walked straight into Keith’s sitting- 


277 


278 


THE DEVASTATORS 


room, as he used to do in the old days. He had no 
idea of any reason why he should not. But on the 
other side of the door he halted suddenly. Keith, 
supposing himself alone, had thrown manhood to 
the winds — the manhood of the conventional Briton, 
who would rather die than be observed to weep. 
His supper stood cold and untasted beside him, and 
his arms were spread over the table, and his head lay 
on his arms ; and when he lifted it, wildly dishevelled, 
at the opening of the door, he showed a haggard 
countenance, in which blazed fierce, wet, bloodshot 
eyes that were the strangest contrast to the tranquil 
orbs naturally belonging to it. It was the gaze of 
a hurt beast at bay, and it seemed to Harry that his 
old friend was too distraught to know him. 
Remembering that he had just come from seeing 
Peggy die, and attributing these evidences — almost 
grotesque — of excessive grief to that event, the fel- 
low mourner sprang forward, his own face working 
with responsive emotion, and seemed as if he would 
have fallen on the doctor’s neck. 

The impulse was violently checked. Macdon- 
ald’s eyes betokened that he knew who was before 
him, yet did not lose their strange expression. He 
pulled himself together with a suddenness that was 
more remarkable than the way he had let himself 
go, and Harry was bewildered by being stared at as 
if he were an unwelcome patient that had forced him- 
self in. What was the matter now ? But he knew. 
The same thing that Mr. Le Marchand’s steely 
politeness and Grace’s grim mask had hinted at. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


279 


Only now there were to be no hints. “ So you 
have come/’ said Keith, “ at last. What have you 
been doing all day while your wife was dying? ” 

Harry drew in his breath, bracing himself, with 
his back to the door. 

“ Do you suppose,” he returned, “ that I knew 
she was dying ? ” 

‘‘ I presume you knew that she was ill ? ” 

“ I did not. The message never reached me. 
Look here, Macdonald, it’s hard enough — ” And 
he broke down. 

“ I hope it is,” said Keith, quite pitiless. “ I 
hope to God it is — though I doubt it.” He was 
wholly transformed from the Keith that used to be. 
“ I hope you are feeling now — or, if not, that you 
will feel some day before you die — the pain' that you 
made her suffer. Now that she’s gone and you 
can’t neglect and humiliate her any more, I trust you 
will thoroughly realize what it is you have lost. 
But ” — with a savage cackle, sadder than his tears — 
“ not you ! Not you ! I have seen Dallas, and he 
is dying of an internal cancer, unless I’m much mis- 
taken. So in a year or so you’ll be married again, 
as jolly as ever, and a lot more so, since Number 
Two will be more to your taste.” 

“ Macdonald,” implored Harry, “ you used to 

call yourself my friend ” 

In fact,” continued Keith, ignoring the appeal, 
if the truth was known, you are feeling regularly 
emancipated at this moment. You would take care 
not to show it, of course, but you must of logical 


28 o 


THE DEVASTATORS 


necessity feel glad you are a free man — that you 
have got rid of the biggest, and what appeared till 
now the insuperable, obstacle in your path. I don’t 
give Dallas a year, poor chap, but she might have 
been here for fifty.” 

Harry’s hands were clinched, his face ashen and 
desperate. “ I’ll bear it,” he said, dropping limply 
into a chair. I’ll bear it. You don’t in the least 
know what you are talking about, but go ahead — 
I’ll bear it.” 

“ If I could ever feel glad of anything again,” 
said Keith, a trifle less malignantly, “ it would be to 
hear you say that I am doing you an injustice. But 
there — if you did say it, I should not believe you. I 
knozv you have been gallivanting with that Dallas 
woman all these weeks while Peggy has been here 
alone — alone in that condition, with who can say 
what miserable thoughts to sap her strength and take 
the heart out of her ! ” 

She had no miserable thoughts on my 
account,” said Harry, rousing himself. “You 
should have seen her letters ” 

“ Her letters, like her words, told just what she 
wanted people to believe. She was not the sort of 
wife to let them see her husband’s faults through 
her. She was not one to kick up a fuss about such 
things — she was above it. But everybody hasn’t 
got my eyes,” said Keith, turning them, gleaming, 
upon his quivering victim. 

“ But to me — to w^,” the latter urged. “ She 
would have been herself with me. Don’t, for pity’s 


THE DEVASTATORS 


281 


sake, make it worse than it is. I have little enough 
to help me through, and about my only comfort is 
the thought that she never understood what a scoun- 
drel of a husband she had. Oh, I did it — I don’t 
deny it — I must have been out of my mind, I think — 
but at least she died in ignorance, thank God ! ” 

Keith drew a chair to the table, sat down in it, 
and folded his arms in front of him, with a deliberate 
and ruthless air. His ugly, tear-blotched face, once 
the face of a most unobtrusive and humble-minded 
nonentity, was surprisingly fine and masterful. 
“ You think so ? ” he said, almost as if it were a satis- 
faction to deal this cruel stroke. “ Don’t flatter 
yourself, my dear fellow. She did nothing of the 
kind.” 

“ No,” groaned Harry, protestingly. “ No — 
no! Who would be such an unspeakable fiend as 
to tell her ? ” 

I expect it was Mrs. Pattison. Indeed, I am 
sure it was. Hating the Dallas woman as she does, 
and not liking Peggy overmuch, it would be just her 
chance.” 

Peggy would not have listened to her.” 

“ I expect she had to.” 

“ She wouldn’t have believed a word.” 

“ Not readily — we all know that. But she was 
no fool — poor Peggy! And you must remember 
what a lot of things there were to open her eyes 
when once she had been put upon the track. Oh, I 
knew when it happened; I saw the change. And 
she never held her head up afterward ; though she 


282 


THE DEVASTATORS 


put a brave face on it, trying to pretend that all was 
well.” 

“ But she never pretended,” persisted Harry, as 
if pleading for his life. “ She was incapable of pre- 
tence in any shape or form. You have no evidence 
— you can not have, since I am very sure she never 
told you. You have been living miles away — not 
daily and hourly associating with her, like the rest. 
You are utterly, horribly mistaken ” 

Macdonald broke in with a new expression of 
face. 

Between you and me, Harry, which of us is 
most likely to be mistaken? You, the most per- 
functory of husbands and guardians, who have been 
completely forgetful and indifferent about her, her 
health, her peace of mind, her interests of every 
kind.” 

No! ” 

“ Or I, who have loved her from first to last — 
since I was a boy in knickerbockers and she a little 
girl in a pinafore and pigtail — ay, as she deserved to 
be loved ; for I have had no greater desire or ambi- 
tion in life than to see her secure and happy, by any 
means that she liked to choose.” 

He looked hardily at the already shattered man, 
upon whom he was discharging these violent shocks 
one after the other; and Harry returned a dazed 
stare. Suddenly his drawn face flushed, and he felt 
his slack nerves tightening. 

“ This,” stammered he, ‘‘ is the first I have 
heard ” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


283 


'' Naturally,” interposed the other, strangely 
calm in a tense, impassioned way. “ The first that 
any one has heard, or, to the best of my belief, sus- 
pected. I was not likely to make a public show of 
it while she was living — I don’t go in for that sort of 
thing ; but I don’t mind telling you now. This day 
has given her to me, Harry Bedingfield. You 
remember the man in the story whose wife was 
buried in a trance? She woke up in the vault at 
night and called her husband, and he was too far 
away to hear ; but her faithful lover had returned to 
mourn at her tomb, and he heard her, and he got her 
out, and took her to his house, and fed and warmed 
her back to life ; and after that she was his by right, 
the gift of the grave to which her husband had con- 
signed her.” 

The husband in the present case sat stiff and 
impotent, incapable of speech. This was by far the 
most terrible aspect that his misfortune had yet 
worn, and he did not know how to deal with it. At 
one time nothing had seemed easier than to over- 
awe and override the modest Keith Macdonald, but 
it was evident that nothing could intimidate him now. 

'' By right of love,” he continued, laying his 
head back in his chair and crossing one leg over the 
other, “ by right of love she should have been mine 
from the beginning — mine all along — for I have 
always been faithful to her. That was the reason 
why I put myself out of the way and took such a lot 
of trouble to bring you up to the scratch — don’t you 
remember ? But of course you do. I saw that her 


284 


THE DEVASTATORS 


heart was set on you, and not on me, and I was not 
going to have her made miserable. What a dolt I 
was ! Making misery for her all the time, if I had 
but known it. It doesn’t do to be so self-denying ; 
it doesn’t do at all. I was no more to her, in that 
way, than old Ben, the Dorlcote groom, but I might 
have been if I had let things take their course. If 
you had jilted her, as you wanted to do — ^just because 
she. wasn’t pretty in your style — she might have 
turned to me. She could always rely on me — I 
have that comfort; she knew that I would never 
desert her in her hour of need. She knew it to-day 
— though all the time it was only you she wanted. 
Yes ” — answering a certain look in Harry’s eyes — 
I dare say it sounds incredible to you that she sent 
for me this morning with as little idea of what the 
message meant for me as the child unborn that 
never breathed. If she had not been ignorant, she 
would not have sent, and I would not have gone — 
oh, yes, I would, though ! I would at any time and 
on any errand have gone to the ends of the earth to 
serve her. And I thought all along that she was not 
likely to do well, and was quite certain there was no 
medical man within reach who would be as careful 
of her as I would. I say that still, although she’s 
dead. It is not my fault that she is dead. 

‘‘ Dickenson will tell you that. You shall have 
all the particulars of the case directly, and you will 
see that I did the utmost possible — that no neglect 
of mine contributed to the result. And I let her die 
without showing her how I loved her ! Odd, isn’t 


THE DEVASTATORS 


285 


it? You would not have done that. You would 
have had a fine time all these weeks while the hus- 
band was out of the road. Oh, I don’t want to brag 
— I take no credit to myself ; it is just the way we are 
made. I’m a plain, humdrum kind of fellow, and 
she was my sort, and — ^well, that’s my idea of love. 
I think it was hers, too. And though I let her die in 
ignorance — not for your sake, mind you, but for 
hers and my own — it was in my arms she died ; and I 
feel now that I have more right to her than you have. 
All day I’ve slaved and sweated for her — I alone, for 
the others were only hired people — and she died in 
my arms at last, and I am the chief mourner, Bed- 
ingfield — I am the chief mourner, not you. For I 
have loved her all the time — I have been faithful 
unto death ; and you had virtually cast her off, like 
the man whose wife was buried in a trance, for the 
sake of an unprincipled, unwholesome, treacherous, 
flighty little beast, who isn’t worthy to be named in 
the same day. No doubt you feel shocked at this 
occurrence — of course you do — but it is absurd to 
suppose that you are utterly bereft and broken- 
hearted, like me.” 

Harry slowly rose to his feet, and made a grop- 
ing motion toward the door. 

I can stand no more,” he muttered, swaying 
dizzily. '' There’s a limit to — a limit to ” 

He sank down by the edge of the table, his head 
plunged into his arms, his hands upraised and 
clinched together, struggling with sobs that seemed 
to rend him in pieces. Never since men were 


19 


286 


THE DEVASTATORS 


broken on the wheel had a human cry expressed 
more genuine anguish, and the devil went out of 
Keith when he heard it. 

“ I suppose I am a brute,'' he confessed, in a 
voice that was merely sad and tired. “ You must 
make allowances for me, Harry. If you had gone 
through such a day as I have — if you had lost your 
all, after such a fight to save it " — still keeping that 
attitude of the one chiefly bereaved, which was so 
maddening to the lawful husband — “ you would un- 
derstand why I can’t contain myself when I think 
that it mightn't have happened if she had been taken 
proper care of. But perhaps it would — perhaps it 
would in any case; it is not for us to say. Here, 
drink some whisky — pull yourself together, man ; it 
is no use crying over spilt milk. Crying won’t bring 
her back again. Perhaps it had to be. She was too 
good for this world. It is always the good ones 
that go, and the bad ones that are left to cumber the 
ground — like that minx who tempted you to treat 
her as you did. Well, I won’t mention that again ; 
it is not the time to cast your follies in your teeth ; 
you are all broken up, I can see, by the suddenness 
of the shock, and I dare say would give your right 
hand to undo what’s done, if that could be. Look 
here, Bedingfield, I’m sorry — I’m confoundedly 
sorry for the things I’ve said ; you must forgive me, 
old chap. It’s only for her sake. God knows I am 
not so perfect myself that I should set up to judge 
others. We are not all made alike. It happens 
that I’m a plain, commonplace, slow-going fellow 


THE DEVASTATORS 


287 


that those fascinating creatures, all romance and 
sentiment, wouldn’t condescend to look at ; and they 
don’t attract me in the least. No goodness of 
mine, that ; and no fault of yours that you are alto- 
gether different. She was my sort — she was not 
yours. You knew it from the first, and I might 
have had the sense to know that she could not be 
happy with a man who wasn’t made to understand 
her. I understood her. / should have taken care 
of her. That homely, jog-trot sort of domestic life, 
that you could not be satisfied with, would have 
been simply heaven to me. It is what I have 
dreamed of from a boy, and despaired of getting 
because I could not get her. I never shall get it, I 
know. I suppose I shall marry some day — one 
lives but once, and it is a drawback to a doctor not 
to have a wife; but I could not bring myself to it 
while she was alive, and when I do, it will be a make- 
shift business. I take it that a man has only one 
right mate in the world. There can’t be another 
like her.” 

Harry had risen to his feet again, and was stand- 
ing up under this protracted punishment with such 
poor dignity as he could command. But his eyes 
were wild and his hand shaking as he took the 
proffered whisky and drained the tumbler at a gulp. 

“ Have some more,” said Keith, pushing the 
bottle forward. “ I am trying not to drink myself — 
I might be called to patients — but it won’t hurt you. 
You need it.” 

“ No,” said Harry, “ I’m going.’" 


288 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Don’t go yet. Sit down — sit down ; I shall be 
better presently. It isn’t only to-day, you know — 
I have had this bottled up for years ; it was bound to 
come out, though you killed me for it. And seeing 
you walk in like that, after it was all over, and being 
really off my head with misery on my own account 
— well there, I won’t say any more. What’s the 
good? You came to ask me about the case. Sit 

down, here in this arm-chair, and I’ll tell you all I 

» 

can. 

“ Never mind,” said Harry. “ As you say, 
what’s the good? Talking about it won’t alter it. 
I am going to see Dickenson.” 

“ Dickenson ? Ah — do. I would rather you 
got the particulars from him. Go and see Dicken- 
son. He doesn’t know as much as I do, but he 
knows enough. I’ll send my boy round to see if he 
is in, shall I ? ” 

“ No, thanks ; I’ll find him.” Harry reached the 
door, paused, and turned toward the friend who had 
all ' at once become such a particular and special 
enemy. “ I have one duty to perform,” he said, 
“ before I go.” His voice was as rigid as his face, 
and he had the air of winding up affairs between 
them and closing accounts. “ I have to express my 
gratitude, the sincere gratitude of her family, for — 
for all I know you’ve done. It was labour in vain, 
unfortunately, but I am quite satisfied that it was the 
best a man — a medical man — could do.” 

“ You may be quite satisfied of that,” returned 
Keith quietly, but with the appalling frankness to 


THE DEVASTATORS 


289 


which he seemed to have now accustomed himself. 
“ Nevertheless, neither you nor her family owe me 
anything. Such as they were, I gave my services to 
her^ and if it would have done her any good to give 
my life, she should have had it. But the giving 
has been on the other side, Harry. The greatest 
honour and privilege that I ever knew, or ever shall 
know, has been mine to-day. In her last extremity 
I was the one, the only one, she had to trust to ; and 
she died in my arms.’^ 

With this parting arrow planted in his heart, 
Harry rode away. But not to see Dickenson to- 
night — he had not strength enough left — although 
the elder practitioner, ever ready to pooh-pooh the 
juvenile notions of his rival, would have given the 
comforting assurance that capricious fate alone was 
responsible for the disaster. The poor young man 
made for a solid mansion on the outskirts of the 
town, whence a gray-haired woman was about to 
set forth to seek him. Her brougham stood waiting, 
and her daughter was tying her bonnet on because 
her own hands trembled too much to do it. She 
was wringing them and lamenting, ** My boy ! My 
boy ! ” while self-possessed Myra tried to steady her 
by showing her that things might have been worse, 
inasmuch as although the Australian Le Marchands 
had lost their money, Peggy’s ten thousand pounds, 
increased by good investments, was safe, and she had 
left all to her husband. 

The fact, having not as yet occurred to him, in 
no way mitigated Harry’s grief. His only refuge 


290 


THE DEVASTATORS 


from despair was that to which he had instinctively 
turned — his mother’s arms, his knowledge that she, 
whatever happened, would forgive and pity him. 
They met on the stairs, and those arms infolded him 
as if he were a child again, and he sobbed on her 
shoulder unashamed. It was several years since 
he had given any particular thought to her existence 
and feelings — Peggy had paid his duty calls for him ; 
but he forgot that now. So, mother-like, did Mrs. 
Bedingfield. “ My boy ! My boy ! ” she crooned. 
In her heart she laid all the blame on Peggy, 
for not choosing to die in a more considerate 
manner. 

The Bedingfields had a family burying-place in 
Dareham churchyard, which had long been closed 
to the rank and file of dead ; and here she, with her 
little son tucked in beside her, was interred, by her 
husband’s wish. His only other wish, in connec- 
tion with the funeral, was that no one outside her 
immediate relations should be invited to attend. 
He made it a command, indeed, and was Very careful 
to enforce it, so as to exclude particularly the self- 
styled chief mourner. 

They took her out of the hearse at the church- 
yard gate — the gate that closed the badly lighted 
avenue — and men carried her on their shoulders up 
the worn stone steps and the hilly path. Husband, 
father-in-law, and uncle followed ; and kindly groups, 
with hats or clean pocket-handkerchiefs in their 
hands, stood by to watch them pass or gathered to 
take a humble part in the burial service. Among 


THE DEVASTATORS 


291 


these no individual face attracted Harry’s eye. But 
as the little cavalcade was nearing its destination — 
passing the grave of that Margaret Le Marchand 
who had died at twenty-two — he happened to look 
up, and saw that one of the leading bearers had been 
replaced, and that it was Keith Macdonald who had 
replaced him. The left shoulder of the coffin rested 
on his shoulder, and his arm, reaching to the 
shoulder of his comrade, was stretched like a bar of 
iron under Peggy’s recumbent form. 

When she was put down, and the chant arose, 
‘‘ Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time 
to live, and is full of misery,” he stepped to the ex- 
treme front, and there stood uncovered, rigid and 
tearless, until all the sorrowful rites were at an end. 
While the earth was filling up the gulf that had swal- 
lowed her, while it was being patted with the backs 
of spades to make it smooth for the wreaths to lie 
on, he kept his post, with an air of resolution sug- 
gesting a sentinel on guard. The little company 
assembled dispersed by slow degrees, casting curi- 
ous backward looks at him, which he did not seem 
to notice. Old Mr. Bedingfield was led away by his 
friend Mr. Chanter. Gordon Le Marchand quietly 
vanished, without speaking to any one. The hus- 
band lingered on, but even he had to go at last 
because he could not challenge the usurper at such 
a time and place. 

Something had to be done with Thomas. 
Harry was going abroad to distract his wretched 


292 


■ THE DEVASTATORS 


mind, and Janey to stay with her grandmother at 
Dareham until his return. Mrs. Bedingfield was 
willing to give the poor animal every comfort in the 
stable yard, but not to admit him to the house ; and 
Harry, no born lover of dumb things, who had often 
been annoyed by his pretensions and the way they 
had sometimes conflicted with his own, was not pre- 
pared to drag him about the world among the lug- 
gage, as Peggy had done. Mr. Le Marchand was 
ready to and resigned to keep him, but confessed 
himself appalled by the prospect of living with a dog 
which was always hunting for somebody else and 
breaking the hearts of both of them with chronic 
disappointment. 

The difficulty was solved by Dr. Dallas. His 
hands unfastened the chain to which Thomas had 
been tied to prevent him from following the funeral, 
and while he rushed madly into the house and up to 
his mistress’s room to find out if possible what had 
been done with her, the friend who so well under- 
stood him and her craved leave of Mr. Le Marchand 
to take the dog to Rumford. 

“ Oh, take him — tajce him ! ” replied the master 
of the house. ‘‘ It is just what she would have 
wished. All those other dogs and creatures may 
do for him what we can not. I don’t believe the 
poor brute has eaten a mouthful since the day she 
died.” 

Dr. Dallas took him, and spent an intimate 
hour with him. Then the lethal chamber was 
charged, and he was patted to it gently. That 


THE DEVASTATORS 


293 


night he was a happy dog once more. And if 
there is another world where the spirits of the 
just are perfected — where love is crowned with im- 
mortality — Peggy and Thomas were not separated 
for long. 


CHAPTER XXI 

The lonely man at Dorlcote was very lonely 
now, for he was not by birth a misanthrope. Wil- 
liam’s family, so upsetting in the first instance, had 
taught him that his need was a home, and not that 
fortress of domestic independence within which he 
had for years intrenched himself and from which 
they had insidiously lured him ; and with the passing 
of Peggy the last charm of bachelor life vanished. 
He hated the house from which the sweet woman 
and the bright little child had gone, and where Grace 
moved about with red eyes and lips dropping at the 
corners, an image of inveterate melancholy. 

Janey came back once — only once, because Dorl- 
cote was not on cordial terms with anybody of the 
name of Bedingfield, except herself. When she was 
gone he said to Dr. Dallas — still hanging about 
Rumford looking like death : “ Upon my soul, if I 
had that brat always with me, with her eternal theo- 
logical controversies, I should be in Bedlam within 
a week.” Janey’s whole mind was set on getting to 
the bottom of the mystery of her mother’s death. It 
was no use attempting to pacify her with the plati- 
tudes that had worn so well for so many generations 


294 


THE DEVASTATORS 


295 


of children ; and to pretend not to hear her ques- 
tions, or to tell her she was too young to understand, 
were futile devices. She came to Uncle Gordon 
with awful charges against the Almighty, and ar- 
raigned him as a witness for the defence — because 
she believed she would get the truth from him, if 
from no one else ; and the poor man declared after- 
ward that it was the tightest place he was ever in. 
The result of the discussion was that she went home 
to convict Granny Bedingfield of being a liar, and 
that the latter lady — none too well disposed to him 
as it was — never spoke to Gordon again. 

Although he professed to be relieved by the 
child’s absence, he felt the separation from her 
acutely. He seemed to have nothing left — except, 
strange to say, his “ dear sister ” Jane at Kiewarara. 
To her — a happy woman of late (under pecuniary 
reverses which had restored her to the churn and 
rolling-pin and a grateful husband’s fealty), but now 
smitten by the fatal cablegram as with an illness 
secret but incurable — he wrote letters in the lonely 
evenings; and her simple letters in return, so sad, 
so unliterary, so sincere, were of such comfort to 
him, that he often wished he had married her him- 
self. The despised “ common person ” who was 
considered for so many years to have dragged down 
the family ! 

Happily he was a poor man, and so had to work. 
Peggy had often remarked upon the English gen- 
tleman farmer’s abstention from manual labour — 
his need of a man or a boy to do the slightest out- 


296 


THE DEVASTATORS 


door job ; now the stately master of Dorlcote went 
near to committing that social and economic crime 
which she had left out of the account — it being un- 
known to her experience — called taking the bread 
out of poor folks’ mouths. He carried a spud or an 
axe instead of a gun, and took the air in shirt sleeves 
for the first time in history. Harvest-home, thrash- 
ing, manure carting, hedge clipping, ploughing, 
drilling, drainage works — these blessed occupations 
gave him appetite and sleep, and not too much 
leisure for brooding. 

Until winter came. When winter settled on the 
land, lumbago settled in the small of his back, and 
he had to stay indoors and take doctor’s stuff. He 
was too unwell to go to an agricultural show of his 
county, at which he yearly exhibited beasts and 
sometimes took prizes ; he could not attend an im- 
portant meeting of the local Chamber of Agricul- 
ture ; his seat upon the Bench was vacant. The days 
were short and gray, the evenings long and dull. 
Rumford was deserted. Dr. Dallas was dead — his 
great book with him. Pattison was alienated — on 
account of Mrs. Pattison. Cheveley, and other 
neighbours, with their own affairs to attend to, 
seemed not to notice the withdrawal of a familiar 
figure from their midst. Books and the daily news- 
paper, and the composition of two articles, upon the 
Decay of Agriculture and the Ruin of the Landed 
Gentry respectively, were the poor solace of the re- 
cluse during the loneliest if not the unhappiest 
period of his life. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


297 


Then, when it seemed that he was just dropping 
hopelessly into old age, he was suddenly snatched 
back to youth and vigour. His back got well; he 
violently objected to tough mutton and shaken wine 
bottles, palmed upon him when he had no spirit to 
resent such treatment; his arm-chair, to which he 
had clung like a leech, could no longer hold him; 
he went out and about, snappy and restless, and the 
servants had to fly to keep him pacified. 

Whence this change? It came with the news- 
paper one morning, in a line of small print. 

“ On the 3rd ult., at Rome, Norman Crawford, 
aged forty-eight.” 

Thenceforth Janey and Peggy ceased to haunt the 
house. A vision of Eleanor, as a single woman, took 
their place. He saw her at every turn, thought 
of her all day, dreamed of her all night ; and his arm- 
chair turned into a thorn-bush and his den into a 
prison. A hunger of the heart assailed him, gnawed 
at his very vitals, drove him to and fro in a frenzy 
of unrest. And yet — was he going to make over- 
tures to a wife who had cast him off? A pretty 
wife? Certainly not. He would die first. 

Not a word. Not a sign. No letter, no men- 
tion of her name, no inquiry of anybody. His 
friends, meeting him again, looked at him curiously, 
and some of them seemed to want to say something. 
But no one dared. The winter passed, and the 
spring followed ; and it might have been she who 
had died instead of Norman Crawford. 

But events can happen of themselves, without 


298 


THE DEVASTATORS 


our assistance. And when summer came again, and 
the restless man took a fancy to go a-fishing to the 
Broads — scene of the long-past honeymoon — he 
ran his head into the net of destiny as simply as any 
fish of them all. 

The fifth day of the cruise was the eve of what 
would have been the silver wedding day, had all 
gone well. Twenty-five years ago, at a certain 
hour of the afternoon, as he acutely remembered, 
Gordon Le Marchand had put the last touches of 
preparation to the little six-tonner which was his 
and Eleanor’s first home. Cheveley’s Dormouse it 
was, lent for the sake of its well-contrived cabin, 
which had every convenience except a roof high 
enough to stand up under. How keenly had she 
appreciated the advantages of his proposal that 
they should go into the watery wilderness for 
the first sacred weeks — she, accustomed to every 
luxury! How she must have loved him then! 
And how insanely he loved her! The Dormouse 
was in hiding until the bride came, driven by 
the bridegroom in a dog-cart that took away 
from the lake-side the last servants that they saw 
for a month. Ah, blessed month ! The cramps, 
the heat, the smell of the oil-stove, her mistakes in 
cooking, his in navigation, winds, rains, little inter- 
ludes of boredom — he forgot all; in memory that 
honeymoon was unsurpassably perfect, a love story 
transcending every other in the world. The 
weather was always heavenly, Nelly always smiling 
and happy, delighted to wash the tea-cups and turn 


THE DEVASTATORS 


299 


good chops and steaks to leather — that is to say, into 
dishes too delicious for words ; and the Broads were 
indeed a sanctuary for love in those times, undese- 
crated by the cockney tourist, who had not even 
heard of them. 

He moored the present craft in the selfsame 
nook of reeds where the Dormouse had lain to wait 
while he and Nelly, in the neighbouring city, under- 
went the ordeal of the church and the wedding 
breakfast ; then he went ashore to get away from his 
skipper and to give himself up for the evening to his 
reminiscences, and the thought of all that might 
have followed upon that exquisite beginning but 
for the most awful blunders ever perpetrated by 
a born fool. 

And suddenly he stumbled upon a woman, ab- 
sorbed in a reverie of exactly the same nature. She 
sat so still on the wooded bank that he took her for 
part of the tree behind her until she rose at his near 
approach. But when she rose, and before he could 
mutter his annoyance, he recognised her. It was 
Eleanor herself. She too had come here to keep the 
anniversary of the bridal eve, to secretly celebrate 
the silver-wedding day. Instantly this thought 
struck him, and then two other things — that she was 
no longer beautiful, and that she was not in mourn- 
ing for Norman Crawford. 

Not beautiful ! That, under the light of twenty- 
five years’ experience, was seen to be a mistake. 
Noting her gray-tinged hair and ivory skin, the ash 


300 


THE DEVASTATORS 


of that youthful glory which had wooed the flatterers 
as a bright lamp woos moths, the ex-husband found 
his ex-wife entirely to his taste. Gentle, sobered, 
grave, her head that was turned restored apparently 
to its right position — if she had been like this in the 
old times. Beauty would have reigned at Dorlcote 
and in his life and hers, and the ugliness of crude 
passion in revolt, the blot of the divorce, would not 
now lie a perpetual stain upon them. She might 
have thought the same of him ; if he had been other- 
wise — not a particularly handsome young man, with 
the extravagant idea of his dues belonging to such — 
the essentially beautiful might have been secured in 
spite of her. Better if they had both been undis- 
tinguished by the treacherous favours which so 
many had blindly envied them. 

A lovely evening, is it not ? ’’ said she for the 
third time — pale, and with fixed eyes. 

“ Lovely,’’ he repeated, with severity. ‘‘ Finest 
weather we have had for a long while.” 

I fancied the district would have been more 
changed. They told me it was getting a tourists’ 
place. It is so long since I was here.” 

“ You are not living in the neighbourhood? ” 

'' No ; only making a flying visit, for a little 
change of air. I have not been well lately. In- 
fluenza, I think.” 

'' Haven’t you ? I’m sorry for that.” He 
glanced sideways at her, and the thought occurred to 
him that probably it was fretting for Norman Craw- 
ford, and not influenza, that had made her ill. He 


THE DEVASTATORS 


301 

conceived that an act of duty was required of him at 
this point. 

“ Eleanor — Mrs. Crawford — now that we have 
happened to meet in this way — I should not have 
intruded upon you voluntarily, of course — there is 
something I would like to say ” 

“ Oh, don’t ! ” she broke in. 

It is this — that I was very sorry for you when 
I heard of your bereavement. I did not write — you 
would know that I could not write — but I felt for 
you in what I fear was a time of great trouble.” He 
might have been a chairman addressing a public 
meeting. 

“ Why could you not write ? ” she asked, in a 
quick, low tone. 

He was disconcerted, but after a short pause said : 
“ Better — don’t you think ? — to avoid further occa- 
sions of misunderstanding.” 

How did you think I should misunderstand ? ” 
she pressed him. Dusk was falling, but he was 
aware of her indrawn lips and deeply-glowing eyes ; 
he could feel the thrill of her tremblings, although 
they did not sit close enough to touch. He braced 
himself to the encounter, with a strange elation of 
heart. Weather and such matters had had their 
turn. 

If I had debated the matter with myself at all, I 
should have expected you to conclude that — that I — 
I hardly know how to put it.” 

“ Oh, no ! ” she broke in, swiftly. ** I should 
never have thought that.” 


20 


302 


THE DEVASTATORS 


Thought what?” 

“ What you mean.” 

“ What do you suppose I mean? ” 

'' It doesn’t matter, I don’t want to talk about 
it. Have you your watch with you? I have a 
little way to walk to my lodgings — I am at a farm 
over there — an old servant of my mother’s — ^and it 
must be late.” 

Without touching his watch he leaned forward 
and peered into her face. Why, it was a young face* 
still ! What was she? Not more than forty-five, at 
the outside — a woman in her prime. Their intense 
eyes met. 

‘‘ Nelly,” he demanded, “ tell me straight out 
what you thought I thought you’d think. I don’t 
want to open old sores — I don’t wish to annoy you — 
but that one question I must have answered — in 
self-defence.” 

They sat side by side under the same tree, each 
on a separate root. As she turned her face from 
him, the gleam of the water below them was reflected 
upon it, and he read something of her mind in her 
quivering mouth. 

Naturally,” she forced herself to say, being 
driven to it, “ naturally you thought I should think 
you were forgiving — condoning — making it up 
again now that we were both — oh, you know ! But 
you need not have been alarmed. The idea would 
never have occurred to me that a man like you — ^that 
any man — would forgive such a wrong, would dream 
for an instant of the possibility of — of — of reversing 


THE DEVASTATORS 


303 

things — such irrevocable things. It would be easier 
to expect the dead to come to life. And, of course, 
I should not wish it.’’ 

The last sentence was defiant, but the true note, 
as his fine ear detected, was one of impassioned 
sadness, ringing down to his secretly melting 
heart. 

Now I never thought of that,” he said, still 
in his old grave way, but with something genial in 
his gravity for the first time in a quarter of a century ; 
“ on my honour, Nelly, such an idea never entered 
my head.” 

He glanced at her face again, palely irradiated, 
and then up at the cloudy canopy overhead. 

Come to wrongs, you know, what were yours to 
me, compared with mine to you ? ” 

Her eyes leaped round to him, and it was his face 
now that the water light shone on. It dropped to 
her level, and the tall, thin figure seemed to give way 
under it. He exchanged his root for hers. 

“ Nelly, when I think of it — I wonder I did not 
think of it before — I am lost in wonder at your con- 
descension in recognising me — in allowing me to so 
much as touch the hem of your garment.” 

An end of a sash, confining her still slender waist, 
had fallen against his knee, and he took an edge of it 
delicately and began to draw it through his fingers. 

No, what I might have fancied you would think 
was that it looked like jeering at you in your trouble, 
triumphing over a fallen enemy — that sort of thing. 
It seemed bad taste to even remind you of my exist- 


304 


THE DEVASTATORS 


ence at such a time. But I was sorry for you, Nell. 
I know what it must have been. Crawford was a 
good fellow, worth a dozen of me.” 

She was one quake from head to foot as she sat, 
linked to him by that strip of silk. It might have 
been woven of electric wire. A breath would have 
fused them. Yet still he held himself in, and still 
she preserved her statue-like pose. 

“ It is in far worse taste,” she addressed the little 
fishes of the mere, turning to her companion a knot 
of dark hair and the crown of a charming bonnet, 
it is infinitely more abominable taste for me to say 
— but I must say it — that he was not worth a dozen 
of you, and that his death was not what you think it 
was to me. It doesn’t matter now, of course, but 
there is no need to let you carry away false impres- 
sions. I had not lived with Norman Crawford for 
years — I could not. No, you were the one to be 
pitied, Gordon. You found — and lost — your true 
mate. I did not.” 

“ If you think she was my true mate,” began 
Gordon, hotly, and then stopped. In five tingling 
seconds of silence they assimilated the fact that the 
second experiment in each case had failed worse 
than the first. 

“ Oh, well,” said Mrs. Crawford, regaining her 
composure as soon as she saw her companion los- 
ing his, as you say, it is bad taste to speak of these 
things. The past is past, and the decent thing is to 
bury it quietly. Gordon, it is very late, I fear. It 
is almost dark. I must go.” 


THE DEVASTATORS 


305 


“ One moment,” he said, as they rose together. 
“ It is light enough still to see — over there ” 

He pointed to a distant clump of trees, dim 
in the twilight, one of their favourite camping 
places twenty-five years ago. “ Do you remem- 
ber ” 

She followed the direction of his finger, looked, 
and broke into sudden laughter. 

** What are you laughing at ? ” he asked her. 

** Oh, I am not laughing because I feel merry,” 
she replied, with a catch of the breath, “ or because 
I see any fun in anything.” 

I should think not,” he rejoined, sternly. 

It is the absurdity of you and me standing here 
like this — here! ” 

And not man and wife ! ” he commented. 

She swung round, repeating, I must go,” in a 
tone so harsh that it was almost savage. But she 
did not go, for he too swung round, so that her first 
step was into his arms. There was a sob, and 
silence. 

Then it all came out — how desperately lonesome 
and unhappy they had been, and were, and how 
they had both remembered that to-morrow would 
have been the silver-wedding day, and all the rest 
of it. They sat on the tree root — one tree root, and 
but a few inches of that— and babbled brokenly to 
each other. 

It was wholly my fault ” 

No, it was mine — all mine ! ” 

You were bored — neglected — restless ” 


3o6 


THE DEVASTATORS 


'' When I had everything to content me, if I had 
but known ! 

“ And I thought you didn’t care a straw about 


And I the same ” 

And you went off ” 

Not with anybody — remember that. I went to 
my own mother, and travelled with her ; and I have 
never respected my mother since for letting me do 
it, though I did tell her that I would not be sent 
back. And I never looked at Norman Crawford 

until after — until after ” 

“ I know — I know ! But, Nell, it was a whole 
year — a whole year, dear, and more — and a man — 
but never mind that now. I don’t want to excuse 
myself. It was an unforgivable insult to you, any- 
way — forever unforgivable.” 

Not if I deserved it.” 

They gazed at the glassy Broad. The stars were 
coming out. In the intense stillness of night in that 
lonely place they could hear each other’s lightest 
sigh. Mrs. Crawford sighed deeply. 

What will they think has become of me ? ” 

‘‘ Why didn’t you bring the door key ? ” 

Why am I not an inspired prophetess ? Who 

could have foreseen ” 

I don’t know. I begin to think now that I 

did.” 

Arm in arm, or hand in hand, they traversed 
river and field paths to the farm-house where she 
was lodging. When the door opened, he made as if 


THE DEVASTATORS 


307 

he would enter with her, and was quite surprised 
and annoyed because she would not let him. 

“ You are but a casual strange man,” she smil- 
ingly reminded him, “ and I must have some regard 
for the reputation of the house, if not of my own 
character.” 

I will take care,” said he, “ to be something 
more than a strange man by this time to-morrow — 
or I’ll know the reason why.” 

“ There might conceivably be a lot of reasons,” 
she coquetted with him sweetly, bending over him 
from the doorstep. “ I have heard of bishops 
forbidding their clergy to marry divorced persons. 
I dare say we shall be found within the prohibited 
degrees. Also, I have promised my uncle and aunt 
in Yarmouth to return to them on Friday for a din- 
ner party.” 

“ Look here, Nell — no nonsense ! Do you 
know what day to-morrow is ? ” 

Ah, don’t I ! ” 

He held her hostage in impatient arms — for, as 
William Le Marchand had once truly said, we are 
always young in some things. ** How soon can you 
get up, Nell?” 

As soon as you wish, Gordon — if you will let 
me go now.” 

“ If I come to your window and call you ” 

I will be ready.” 

She was ready — because she never went to bed. 
And so early was their start, and so swift their run 
before the morning wind, that the sunrise was still 


THE DEVASTATORS 


308 

pink as a rose when their yacht (which yesterday had 
been his only) faced the incoming tide at the top of 
Breydon Water. When, oh, when had Breydon 
Water looked as it looked in that enchanting hour ! 
The late breakfast-table of the herons and sea-birds 
twinkled all over in the lovely light, which made the 
sails of the craft coming up with the flood stand out 
as if cut in onyx. Far off, a bridge between lake and 
sea, the line of Yarmouth roofs and spires was drawn 
through the glory as it were a vision of the New 
Jerusalem. The picture lives in the memory of 
both, every feature clear, preserved by the peculiar 
process applied to it, like a fixed ” photograph. 

What they did in Yarmouth, with the assistance 
of the aunt and uncle, needs not to be detailed. 
Suffice it to say that the silver-wedding day was not 
allowed to run to waste. By sun-setting they were 
man and wife once more. Their tongues — having 
made up arrears — took rest, while their souls talked. 
Twenty years did not seem an overheavy price to 
pay for an hour of that communion. 

And there was no hesitation in drawing up the 
program of the second wedding journey; it was 
to be the first over again, only better. All those 
Stations of the Cross — those altars of young love — 
had to be visited and knelt to. The old ecstasies, 
immeasurably enriched, had to be recalled and 
relived. Earth, that had given one month of per- 
fect bliss, as mendacious memory affirmed, was to 
repeat her gift. She was to provide the atmosphere 
of heaven for a fortnight, at least. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


309 


Earth did her best, with radiant summer weather, 
moonlight, and the rest. But after a few days of 
sailing and camping — being twenty-five years older 
than they used to be, in spite of all — ^their longing 
for a settled home was such that they could not hide 
it from each other. House walls, arm-chairs, and 
peace — ^these were the materials of the new domestic 
shrine. 


CHAPTER XXII 


Gordon Le Marchand was desperately afraid 
that the domestic shrine would prove inadequate. 

“ You will find the place as you left it, Nelly, 
only with every one grown old and threadbare — 
like me.’^ 

If I find everything like you,’^ said she, it 
will be all right.” 

“ You must tell me what you like, and what you 
don't like,” he continued, a little uneasily. “ You 
see I have to learn it all afresh. I don't know what 
your life has been, and what you may have got 
used to.” 

“ I have not got used to being happy, for one 
thing. My life has been simply a long-drawn-out 
probation for that state. So I should be easy to 
please.” 

“ The same with me. But Dorlcote is a dull 
hole, as you know — duller than it used to be — and 

if you were not happy after all ” 

Suppose we don't talk about happiness ? It is 
an unlucky word, and really does not mean anything 
in particular. Let us take care of the pence, and 
leave the pounds to take care of themselves. We 
310 


THE DEVASTATORS 


3II 

are going to be very comfortable in our old age, 
Gordon/’ 

“ Comfortable in our old age ! ” he ejaculated 
with a laugh just touched with the cynicism of the 
past. “ There was a time when we looked for more 
than that, Nell.” 

“ Which was just where we made our grand mis- 
take.” 

“But is that all there is of it?” he wistfully 
inquired. “ Even for a silver marriage ? ” 

“ Wait and see,” she smiled. 

He had not to wait long. In a week each knew 
what the other liked, without asking or telling ; dis- 
likes, it appeared, did not exist. The closeness of 
their sympathy left no room for them. Neverthe- 
less, by degrees, and as it were automatically, the 
worn carpets and curtains became unobtrusively 
new, the broken-springed sofas and chairs soft and 
strong, the table-linen like white satin. Grace was 
not deposed, but re-enforced, as a rusty machine is 
re-enforced by oiling. Lamps ceased to smoke, or 
flare in jets out of their chimneys ; mutton came to 
table juicy and tender; the right wine warmed, the 
right cooled, unshaken; lumbago pains were as- 
suaged with mesmeric rubbings. These pennies of 
the hoard, translatable into the shillings of health 
and quiet nerves, produced an unreckoned supply of 
those pounds of happiness that take care of them- 
selves. Going forth to his work with the encour- 
agement of a kiss and a woollen comforter, or 
perhaps with Nell beside him, coming home to his 


312 


THE DEVASTATORS 


bright hearth and his good dinner, and to the clear- 
shining lamp at which it was a luxury to read to her 
— the ex-misanthrope of Dorlcote so thoroughly 
enjoyed himself that he forgot to inquire whether 
he was happy or not. 

The same with her. She rested at last, as only 
the long-tried, middle-aged wife can, whose later 
married years are often the best of all ; and yet she 
kept the prestige of a young wife, trailing those 
clouds of glory from the romantic past. A delight- 
ful state of things, as she, once a beautiful woman, 
well understood. Beautiful women, blooming or 
fading, never grow old enough to see beauty from 
the Gordon Le Marchand standpoint. She gloried 
in her reminiscent face when she turned it to him. 
And perhaps, after all, he was something of a back- 
slider in his latter years. 

One lack only made itself felt at times. But 
this, he insisted, was another blessing in disguise. 

“ Look at William and poor Jane,” he would say, 
no longer envying William his homely mate. If 
ever a woman worshipped her husband, she did, as 
I have been informed ; but you would never see her 
look at him while there was a child around to attend 
to. The same with poor Peggy. The same in 
every family. And that is why the husbands do the 
things they shouldn’t do. Depend upon it, my 
dear, there is nothing like children to separate man 
and wife.” 

He took up this as an article of faith when he left 
off cursing beauty. 


THE DEVASTATORS 


313 


They are a venerable Darby and Joan now, he in 
particular. She can still sit upright, in her dainty 
cap, and see without spectacles to knit socks and 
vests for their nephew Philip's babies, already being 
broken into English winters with a view to contin- 
gencies. But Gordon, generally styled the old 
man " by his juvenile neighbours, is bent and white, 
and needs his wife's arm to help him about. Even 
so, they remain “ comfortable " to a degree un- 
dreamed of when they were young — and handsome. 

And the next generation has come to the time 
of the gray head, and of the finding out of the truth 
of many things. 

Our old friend Harry, who has been Henry these 
many years, now sits on his father's throne in Dare- 
ham and occupies his father's house. He is the lead- 
ing solicitor of the district, the principal of his firm, 
the much-trusted legal adviser of the co-squires of 
Rumford — a soldier Dallas, too soldierly and too 
poor to live on the place, and the worthy sauce-and- 
pickle merchant who rents it from him. The pickle 
merchant keeps it up in splendid style, so that the 
office of lawyer to the estate is a fat billet. Mr. 
Bedingfield, even as his father at the same age, is a 
man of weight and influence, only considerably 
more so. Soberness and respectability are personi- 
fied in him. 

A little incident occurred, not long ago, which 
clearly showed the influence of years and experience 
upon him — one of those landmarks by which we 
measure our development in life from time to time. 


314 


THE DEVASTATORS 


The wife of the pickle merchant, who was an 
earl’s daughter, sent him an informal invitation to 
dine at Rumford. “We have a few people in the 
house,” wrote she, “ including my brother Edmond, 
home from India the other day; and a small hand- 
ful are coming from outside — the new rectory 
people, the Philip Le Marchands from Dorlcote, the 
Cheveleys with a' friend. The latter, I am told, is 
or was a particular chum of yours. But it will not 
be a party, so bring Janey. Florence is coming 
downstairs for the occasion, by her uncle’s com- 
mand.” 

“ Why didn’t she give his name ? ” the lawyer 
wondered aloud to Janey, as the pair, having said 
good-night to Granny Bedingfield — now very infirm 
and past going out to dinner — entered the comfort- 
able carriage that was to take them to Rumford. “ I 
can not think of any old friend of mine likely to be 
staying with the Cheveleys.” 

“ He might belong to Mrs. Cheveley,” sug- 
gested Janey, wrapping her white furs about her. 
Gay old Mr. Cheveley had lately married a pretty, 
young second wife, of whose “ people ” no one in 
the neighbourhood knew much. 

Father and daughter, being family friends at 
Rumford, started early, and were the first to arrive. 
The blaze of the electric-lighted house, which 
nightly irradiated the country for miles, poured 
from the splendid hall as they were marshalled in by 
a perfect army of liveried men ; but our Harry had 
ceased to feel anything strange in the contrast 


THE DEVASTATORS 


315 


between the present establishment and that of the 
past. Rumford with engine houses, orchid houses, 
fancy dairies, and the like, was as much a mat- 
ter of course as his own middle-aged and affluent 
dignity. The old regime, with all its irregulari- 
ties, was not only done with, but forgotten. He 
walked up to his hostess with the air of a modest 
duke. 

“ Ah, that’s right ! ” she greeted him cheerfully. 

Well, you are to take in your friend ; but she is 
not here yet.” 

Oh, is it a she ? And may I ask her name ? ” he 
politely inquired. 

“ Her name,” said Lady Lucy, is Mrs. Nicholas 
Ashbin. I should not like to be named Ashbin, 
should you ? ” 

“ I certainly never heard it in my life before,” 
said Mr. Bedingfield, incisively. “ Whoever has 
told you that she is my friend has been misin- 
formed.” 

Oh, no ; she told me herself — at least, Mrs. 
Cheveley did for her — and they ought to know. I 
expect she has married again.” 

Harry cast back in his memory, and, for the first 
time in years, thought of Mimi Carter that was. 
“ But it can’t be she, thank God,” he reflected, “ for 
the man she married after poor Dallas was a Smith 
— Merion-Smith. I remember the name distinctly, 
because fellows used to call him Mary Ann. He 
was thought to have money, but he hadn’t, and they 
had to live abroad to avoid their creditors. I can 


THE DEVASTATORS 


316 

not think who it can possibly be/’ he concluded 
aloud. 

“ I have told you all I know,” said Lady Lucy, 
“ and you will soon have a chance to find out the 
rest. Well, Janey, my love, I am glad that martinet 
of a parent of yours has relaxed the rules, for once. 
Florence is looking for you, dear.” 

The daughter of the house was only sixteen, but 
Janey was quite old enough to be out — had been at 
least two years, according to the regulations of 
polite society ; but her father had been so extremely 
particular about her, so anxious to preserve her 
maiden innocence and ignorance, that she was not 
yet allowed to consider herself grown up. She did 
not mind this in the least, for she was a simple crea- 
ture ; much attached to a kind and thoughtful gover- 
ness ; much given to books, ideas, and the pursuit of 
out-of-the-way knowledge; and so continually em- 
ployed as a member of the Board of Management of 
Dr. Dallas’s “ Home ” (endowed by him before his 
death) for the succour and shelter of unfortunate 
small animals, that she had as little leisure as inclina- 
tion for the gaieties that meant so much to the bulk 
of her contemporaries. There was a current theory 
that she was plain, because she had red hair, but it 
was beginning to be said of her that she was improv- 
ing very much as she grew up. Anyway, she was 
a sweet slip of a girl, and nothing of all the beautiful 
things in the pickle merchant’s drawing-room was 
more restful to the eye than her spring-flower face. 

She went off to a retired sofa with the daughter 


THE DEVASTATORS 


317 


of the house, and her father was absorbed into a 
group of graybeards around one of the mighty fire- 
places. In this group towered conspicuously the 
fine figure of General Lord Edmond de Kohan, the 
brother of Lady Lucy, and the soldier-man of our 
former acquaintance — he, too, with his wild oats 
reaped and done with. Harry had seen him once, 
long ago, but did not identify Mimi’s old admirer 
under the disguises of time ; they were introduced as 
strangers by their host, and began to chat in dinner- 
party fashion of the weather, the pheasants, and the 
crops. Mr. Bedingfield was delighted to meet a 
personage even greater than Lady Lucy and her 
millionaire, and was so interested in the conversa- 
tion that he did not hear the names of Mr, and Mrs. 
Cheveley and Mrs. Ashbin shouted from the far- 
distant doorway. 

Suddenly the gallant general stiffened and 
glared. '' Good Heavens ! ” he muttered. “ What 
is Lucy thinking about? ’’ To a fine ear the words 
might have been misconstrued. “ This is what 
comes of marrying sauce-and-pickle merchants ! ” 

The lawyer turned on his heel, and his face also 
underwent a change. For up the room came sweep- 
ing Lady Lucy, smiling (until she saw her brother’s 
look of reprobation), and with her a lady who had 
undoubtedly started life as Mimi Carter. Pre- 
served by all the aids so freely advertised in the 
fashion papers, it was impossible to mistake her — 
Mimi fat and vulgarized, rouged and pearl-pow- 
dered, pinched at the waist and overflowing at the 


21 


THE DEVASTATORS 


318 

bosom, with puffy wrinkles round the eyes, and the 
golden hair a vivid yellow, and the enchanting smile 
worn into a wide-angled smirk ; the coarse fibre that 
the bloom of youth had masked peeping through at 
every point. 

Her propitiating gaze fixed the general as she 
advanced. 

“Ah — h?’’ she drawled, in arch greeting. 
‘‘You here?” 

“ Oh, do you know my brother ? ” Lady Lucy 
chimed in, with a keen, puzzled look. 

Lord Edmond, with an iron countenance, 
bowed, and immediately turned aside to accost 
Philip Le Marchand, whom he had never seen be- 
fore. 

“ And this is my little Philip ? ” Mrs. Ashbin 
inquired, sweetly. “ Goodness, what a change ! ” 

But Philip, although young, was a great deal 
older than he once had been; a married man, more- 
over, with his wife beside him. Colouring vio- 
lently, he touched the gracious hand as if it were a 
cactus, bent awkwardly, and said nothing. She 
then turned to Mr. Bedingfield. 

“ This is indeed like old times ! ” she murmured, 
half to him and half to her hostess. “ Did you 
know. Lady Lucy, when you kindly asked me here, 
that you were asking me to meet so many old 
friends — and to the house where I was once mis- 
tress, as you are now? ” 

“ What ? ” cried Lady Lucy bluntly. But, con- 
fused by her brother’s scowl, she did not wait for ex- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


319 


planations. “ You take in Mrs. Ashbin, please, Mr. 
Bedingfield,’' said she, hastily. “ Come, Edmond, 
and I will introduce you to your dinner partner.” 

As the pair passed down the enormous room, the 
brother was observed to talk in rapid undertones to 
the sister ; and, in fact, before they reached the other 
end, from which the new rectory people were ad- 
vancing to meet them, Mrs. Cheveley’s name had 
been struck off the Rumford visiting list forever. 

Mimi hung heavily upon the lawyer’s arm as 
they stood awaiting their turn to join the procession 
to the dining-room ; she leaned toward him with the 
freedom induced by her lifelong habits in the com- 
pany of his sex. 

“ What a world it is ! ” she observed, plaintively. 
“ Here are all these people whom I used to entertain 
and make much of, who used simply to grovel 
before me when I was mistress of Rumford — when 
Rumford was not tainted with trade, but the home 
of the real aristocracy ; now that I am no longer in 
that position, they barely take the trouble to be civil 
to me ; my Lady Lucy is queen now — and a plainer 
woman I never saw in my life.” They moved into 
line, and she dropped her voice. “ Ah, but you are 
not like that, Harry ! I knew I should find you the 
same chivalrous, thoroughbred, perfect gentleman 
that you always were.” 

He, too, said nothing, and he felt acutely 
uncomfortable. Her caressing clasp of his arm 
made him want to shake it, and her “ Harry ” caused 
him to wince as if the word were a pin prodded into 


320 


THE DEVASTATORS 


him. The old garden of Eden had become a palace 
of docks and nettles, empty wine bottles and jam 
tins ; he looked into it, after all these years, with 
metaphorical thumb and finger at his nose. 

While sitting at dinner, and subject to several 
hints from him that her voice carried much farther 
than she supposed, she made her last assault upon a 
position which it was the present aim of her life to 
take by hook or by crook, if possible. Released 
from the incumbrance of Nicholas Ashbin, who, to 
say truth, had been a bad lot, and her only fortune 
consisting of dresses and jewels that were not all 
paid for, she had planned the coup which promised 
better than any other to snatch social salvation for 
her, a refuge from the pursuing retributions sniffing 
so closely at her heels. Mrs. Cheveley had been a 
difficulty overcome. Lady Lucy another; behold 
now the bold campaigner sitting down before the 
fort, which had not been armed against surprises. 
It looked distinctly formidable ; but a notedly pretty 
(which means an egregiously vain) woman would 
have to be blind and deaf and a hundred years old 
before she could conceive of the possibility of her 
charms failing. When Mrs. Ashbin communicated 
to her old lover the fact that she was again a widow 
— homeless and lonely, without “ chick or child ’* — 
she seemed to see the drawbridge already .poised 
to fall. Indeed, the news was a visible shock 
to him. 

“ I — I am awfully sorry,” he mumbled, between 
two mouthfuls of soup. But she at once implored 


THE DEVASTATORS 


321 


him to be glad, for her sake, and proceeded to paint 
Husband Number Four — who quite deserved it — 
in even blacker colours than she used to lay on to 
Number One. Words could not in the dimmest 
manner convey what her sufferings had been, and 
her companion begged her not to use any. 

“ Well, I won’t,’' she said. “ I’ll let myself 
be happy to-night, if I never am again. Ah, 
Harry ” 

And so on. Rumford had a marvellous French 
cook, and these dinners, as a rule, were joys to the 
man beside her; but to-night his meal could not 
have disagreed with him worse if it had been com- 
posed of the host’s business pickles. 

When the ladies had left the table, he and the 
general both sipped their wine abstractedly, and 
several times they glanced at each other in a furtive 
way. When they caught each other doing it, their 
eyes flashed simultaneously to fresh points in space. 

On re-entering the drawing-room, Harry’s first 
anxiety was to see what his daughter was about. 
For Lady Lucy, to his annoyance, had sent her in to 
dinner with a youth who appeared to belong to the 
new rectory people, a lad from Sandhurst, with a 
bright, curly head and a great deal too much to say 
for himself ; and this ineligible and too attractive 
fellow had sneaked away some minutes ago, ahead 
of his elders. 

The lawyer, to his relief, encountered him, not 
with Janey, but with the daughter of the house. 

“ Oh, Mr. Bedingfield,” said the youth, ‘‘ we 


322 


THE DEVASTATORS 


want Miss Bedingfield to sing to us. Will you ask 
her?'' 

Harry looked forbiddingly upon the request, 
coming from this quarter, until his next glance into 
the room discovered Janey in retirement with still 
more objectionable company; then he marched to 
where she sat — almost in the pocket of Mrs. Nicho- 
las Ashbin — and packed her off to the piano 
straightway. 

“ Ah, well," said Mimi, languishingly, drawing 
in her skirts, “ I don't mind your sending her away, 
since you have come yourself. But what a sweet, 
dear girl ! I have fallen over head and ears in love 
with her." Their eyes followed the slim, simple, 
modest white figure, which had promptly been 
taken charge of by the Sandhurst cadet. “ And if 
that young man hasn't done the same, I am much 
mistaken." 

“ For Heaven's sake," Harry blurted out, “ don't 
talk of love in connection with that baby! She's 
barely nineteen." 

“ Nineteen I " How Mimi laughed at his inno- 
cence — his forgetfulness — his paternal affectations 1 
But soon she became serious, as she confessed how 
it was for this interview, and nothing else, that she 
had schemed with Mrs. Cheveley and Lady Lucy — 
because she had never been able to rest for thinking 
of the way she had t|pated him in the old days, and 
for wanting to ask his forgiveness for it. Of the 
dozens of sofas in that room, the one to which Janey 
had decoyed him was the most beautifully seques- 


THE DEVASTATORS 


323 


tered and appropriate to a conversation of this kind. 
When Mrs. Ashbin opened a big fan and slowly- 
waved it before her face and her companion's, abso- 
lute privacy was secured to them. 

At ten o'clock they rejoined the rest of the party. 
The lady's face was warm and agitated, the man’s 
cold and hard. Her farewell hand-clasp was linger- 
ing and impressive. She said breathlessly, Well, 
I shall see you to-morrow.” He answered her 
with a bow. But, as a matter of fact, he never 
saw her again. And she never saw, nor is ever 
likely to see, the inside of another really reputable 
house. 

It is very well to rail at the unequal awards that 
the world metes out to the male and female sinner ; 
the fact remains that, even as we all find our level 
sooner or later, we all reap the fruit of whatever crop 
we have sown. Taking the many sides of the case 
into consideration, a rough justice is done in the 
end ; and the woman who makes herself cheap and 
miscellaneous, and still more the woman who uses 
her beauty treacherously — knowing its power and 
the physiological weakness of the man's defence 
against it — has not much to complain of in the final 
issue, which leaves her, usually, worse off than it 
leaves him. 

On the homeward drive Mr. Bedingfield was 
very silent. He leaned back in his corner of the 
carriage, with eyes shut, and Janey thought he was 
asleep. In the hall, before lighting her bedroom 
candle, he spoke to her. 


324 


THE DEVASTATORS 


“ Janey, dear — another time — don't invite a 
stranger to the house without first consulting me." 

“ If you are referring to the lady we met to- 
night," returned Janey, “ I never asked her, father ; 
she asked herself. Besides, she was not a stranger, 
she said, but one of your oldest and dearest friends." 

“ Friend! " he echoed, grave and stern. “ Well, 
she is no friend for you, at any rate. Now run off 
and get a good night’s sleep, for to-morrow I am 
going to take you over to Paris for a week. We 
have not had a trip together this year." 

But was not Mrs. Ashbin " 

“ She is not coming. Or, if she comes. Granny 
will entertain her. Don’t ask any more questions, 
child — at any rate, don’t ask them until you are at 
least twice as old as you are now." 

Janey was gazing up at him with eyes through 
which he could see her heart looking and listening, 
trying to understand. Clear and honest, like her 
mother’s, they were fringed with darker lashes than 
hers, and the daughter’s hair was a richer, more 
golden red. Her nose also was a trifle straighter and 
finer, and her mouth, not quite so large, had sweet 
curves at the corners, and showed at this moment the 
beginnings of a smile, which brought out all its 
charm. Her complexion was the complexion that 
goes with auburn hair in the gentle-bred and healthy. 
All at once it struck him that Janey was going to be 
a beauty — that the young man who had taken her 
into dinner was but an avant-coureur of an ap- 
proaching army of this kind. And Gordon Le 


THE DEVASTATORS 


325 

Marchand in the days preceding the second nuptials 
could not have been more alarmed by such a discov- 
ery than his nephew-in-law now was. What ! Had 
she, too, been selected to join the ranks of the 
Devastators — or the Devastated ? 

He took her face between his hands and studied 
it deeply, not heeding the embarrassed flush that 
dyed its milky surface. And he saw in it, not beauty 
only, but goodness — the quality which, according to 
common experience, is so rarely combined with 
physical charm. And why not? In the name of God 
and his righteous dispensations, why not? The 
mind that had made itself up — adjusted its account 
with life, and struck the balance — opened out to a 
further, if still dim, vision of the truth. Could it 
be that nature was all wrong in making these sweet 
creatures, and men so constituted as not to be able 
to resist them ? It were heresy to think so, against 
the silent but manifestly authentic testimony of 
Janey’s face. What, then? Nature, as in so many 
other apparently wrong ways, was right ; it was only 
purblind human wisdom or unwisdom that had 
tangled the thing up. Had the beautiful people car- 
ried out their mission unmolested from the begin- 
ning, what might they not have developed to by this 
time? The mistakes of civilization, as they were 
slowly discovered, were being slowly rectified, by a 
race that honestly tried to do its best; therefore — 
some day — somehow — this trouble, one might hope, 
would be straightened out. 

All night he tossed awake. And all night he 


326 


THE DEVASTATORS 


was haunted by a vision of Janey’s face, transfigured 
by the glory of its new-born womanhood, asking 
him, with her mother’s true eyes, why she should 
not be beautiful for the blessing of men and not for 
their bane. 


APPLETONS’ TOWN AND COUNTRY LIBRARY. 

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1. The Sted Hammer. ByL. Ulbach. 

2. Eve. By S. Baking-Gould. 

3. For Fifteen Years. By L. Ulbach. 

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5. The Deemster. By H. Caine. 

6i . The Bondman. By H. Caine. 

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8. “ The Right Honourable.''' By J. 

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9. The Silence of Dean Maitland. By 

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10. Mrs. Lorimer. By L Malet. 

1 1 . The Elect Lady. By G. MacDonald. 

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13. Aristocracy. 

14. A Recoiling Vengeance. By F, 

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15. Th£ Secret of Fontaine-la- Croix. By 

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32. Won by Waiting. By E. Lyall. 

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40. The Rom ance of Jenny Harlowe, and 

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42. The Awakening of Mary Fenwick. 

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51. Lai. By W. A. Hammond, M. D. 

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54. Katy of Catoctin. By G. A. Town- 

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55. Throckmorton. By M. E. Seawell, 

56. Expatriation. By the author of 

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57. Ge^rey Hampstead. By T. S. 

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58. Dmitri. By F. W. Bain, M. A. 

59 Part of the Property. By B. W hitby. 

60. Bismarck in Private Life. By a 

Fellow-Student. 

61. In Low Rdief. By M, Roberts. 

62. The Canadians of Old. By P. 

GASPf. 

63. A Squire of Low Degree. By L. A. 

Long. 

64. A Fluttered Dovecote. By G. M. 

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65. The Nugents of Carriconna. By T. 

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66. A Sensitive Plant. By E. and D. 

Gerard. 

67. Dona Luz. By J. Valera, Trans- 

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68. Pepita Ximenez. By J. Valera 

Translated by Mrs. M. J. Ser- 
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69. The Primes and their Neighbors. 

By R. M. Johnston. 

70. The Iron Game. By H. F. Keenan. 

71. Stories of Old New Spain. By T. 

A. Janvier. 

72. The Maid of Honor. By Hon. L. 

Wingfield. 

73. In the Heart of the Storm. By M. 

Gray. 

74. Consequences. By E. Castle. 


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76. A Matter of Skill. By B. Whitby. 

77. Maid Marian^ and Other Stories. 

By M. E. Seawell. 

78. One Woman's Way. By E. Pek- 

DLETON. 

V9. A Merciful Divorce. By F. W. 
Maude. 

80. Stephen Ellicott's Daughter, By 

Mrs. J. H. Needell. 

81. One. Reason Why. By B. Whitby. 

82. The Tragedy of Ida Noble. By 

W. C. Russell. 

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84. AWidower Indeed. By R. Brough- 

ton aud E. Bisland. 

85. The Flight of a Shadow. By G. 

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86. Love or Money. By K. Lee. 

87. NotAllinVain. By A. Cambridge. 

88. It Happened Yesterday. By F. 

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92. Don Braulio. By J. Valera. 

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(*/ A 

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99. Crosscurrents. By M. A. Dickens. 

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101. Passing the Love of Women. By 

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104. Mona Maclean. Medical Student. 

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108. A Comedy of Elopement. By C. 

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110. Stories in Black and White. By T. 

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112. Dr. Pauli's Theory. By Mrs. A. M. 
• Diehl. 


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114. A Little Minx. By A. Cambridge. 

115. Copt'n Davy's Honeymoon. By II. 

Caine. 

116. The Voice of a Flower. By E. 

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117. S'lngidarly Deluded. By S Grand. 

118. Suspected. By L. Stratenus, 

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120. The Tutor's Secret. By V. Cher- 

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121. Irom the Five Rivers. By Mrs. F. 

A. Steel. 

122. An Innocent Impostor, and Other 

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123. Ideala. By S. Grand. 

124. A Comedy of Masks. By E. Dow- 

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126. Dodo: A Detail of the Day. By 

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130. Christina Chard, By Mrs. Camp- 

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132. Earlscourt. By A. Allardtce. 

133. A Marriage Ceremany. By A. 

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134. A Ward in Chancery. By Mrs. 

Alexander. 

135. Lot 13. By D. Gerard. 

136. Our Manifold Nature. By S. 

Grand. 

137. A Costly Freak. By M. Gray. 

138. A Beginner. By R. Broughton. 

139. A Yellow Aster. By Mrs. M. Caf- 

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141. The Trespasser. By G. Parker. 

142. The Rich Miss Riddell. By D. 

Gerard. 

143. Mary Fenwick's Daughter. By B. 

Whitby. 

144. Red Diamonds. By J. McCarthy. 

145. A Daughter of Music, By G. Coi^ 

MORE. 

146. Outlaw and Lawmaker. By Mrs. 

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147. Dr. Janet of Harley Street. By A. 

Kenealy. 

148. George Mandeville's Husband. By 

C. E. Raimond. 

149. Vashti and Esther. 

150. Timar's Two Worlds. By M.. 

JOKAI. 

151. A Victim of Good Luck. By W. E. 

Norris. 


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152. The Trail of the Sword. By G. 

Parker. 

153. A MUd Barbarian. By E. Faw- 

cett. 

154. The God in the Car. By A. 

Hope. 

155. Children of Circumstance. By Mrs. 

M. Capptn. 

156. At the Gate of Samaria. By W. J. 

Locke. 

157. The Justihcation of Andrew Le- 

brun. fiy P. Barrett. 

158. Bust and Laurels. By M. L. Pen- 

DERED. 

159. The Good Ship Mohx>ck. By W. C. 

Russell. 

160. Noemi. By S. Barino-Gould. 

161. The Honour of SaveUi. By 8 . L. 

Yeats. 

162. Kitty's Engagement. By P. War- 

den. 

163. The Mermaid. By L. Dougall. 

164. An Arranged Marriage. By D. 

Gerard. 

165. Eve's Ransom. By G. Gissing. 

166. The Marriage of Esther. By G. 

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167. Fidelis. By A. Cambridge. 

168. Into the Highways and Hedges. By 

P. F. Montr:6sor. 

169. The Vengeance of James Vansittart. 

By Mrs. J. H. Needell. 

170. A Study in Prejudices. By G. 

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171. The Mistress of Quest. By A. Ser- 

geant. 

172. In the Year of Jubilee. By G. Gis- 

sing. 

173. In Old New England. By H. 

Butterworth. 

174. Mrs. Musgrave — and Her Husband. 

By R. Marsh. 

175. Not Counting the Cost. By Tasma. 

176. Out of Due Season. By A. Ser- 

GEANT# 

177. Scylla or Charybdis? By R. 

Uroughton. 

178. In Defiance of the King. By C. C. 

T-I r^'T'i^TTTT’Taa 

179. A Bid for Fortune. By G. 

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180. The King of Andaman. By J. M. 

Cobban. 

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Snaith. 

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K. Clifford. 

190. The Dancer in Yellow. By W. E. 

Norris. 

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Reid. 

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Dougall. 

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thy. 

196. A Hurnble Enterprise. By A. Cam- 

bridge. 

197. Dr. Nikola. By G. Boothby. 

198. An Outcast of the Islands. By J. 

Conrad. 

199. The King's Revenge. By C. Bray. 

200. Denounced. By J. Bloundelle- 

Burton. 

201. A Court Intrigue. By B. Thomp- 

son. 

202. The Idol-Maker. By A. Sergeant. 

203. The Intriguers. By J. D. Barry. 

204. Master Ardick., Buccaneer. By P. 

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207. McLeod of the Camerons. By M. 

Hamilton. 

208. The Career of Candida. By G. 

Paston. 

209. Arrested. By E. Stuart. 

210. Tatterley. By T. Gallon. 

211. A Pir,e%eck Goddess. By Mrs. J 

M. Fleming (A. M. Kipling). 

212. Perfection City. By Mrs. Orpen. 

213. A Spotless Reputation. By B 

Gerard. 

214. A Galahad of the Creeks. By S. L. 

ITeats 

215. The Beautiful White Devil. By G. 

Boothby. 

216. The Sun of Saratoga. By J. K 

Altsheler. 

217. Fierceheart., the Soldier. By J. C. 

Snaith. 

218. Marietta's Marriage. By W. E. 

Norris. 

219. Dear Faustina. By R. Broughton. 

220. Niilma. By Mrs. Campbell Praed. 

221. The Folly of Pen Harrington. By 

J. Sturgis. 

222. A Colonial Free-Lance. By C. C. 

Hotchkiss. 

223. IBs Majesty's Greatest Subject. By 

S. S. Tho'kburn. 


APPLETONS’ TOWN AND COUNTRY lABUARY.-iConthmed.) 


224. Mifanwy ; A Welsh Singer. By A. 

Raine. 

225. A Soldier of Manhattan. By J. A. 

A T >710 11 U'T.U* R 

226. Fortune's Footballs. By G. B. 

Burgin. 

227. The Clash of Arms. By J. Bloun- 

DEi.i-.B- B urton. 

228. God's Foundling. By A. J. Daw- 

son. 

229. Miss Pi'ovidence. By D. Gerard. 

230. The Freedom of Henry Meredyth. 

By M. Hamilton. 

231. Sweethearts and Friends. By M. 

Gray. 

2^. Sunset. By B. Whitby. 

2.33. A Fiery Ordeal. By Tasma. 

234. A Prince of Mischance. ByT. Gal- 

lon. 

235. A Passionate Pilgrim. By P. 

White. 

236. This Little World. By D. C. Mur- 

ray. 

237. A Forgotten, Sin. By D. Gerard. 

238. The Incidental Bishop. By G. 

Allen. 

239. The Lake of Wine. By B. Capes. 

240. A Trooper of the Empress. By C. 

Ross. 

241. Tom Sails. By A. Raine. 

242. Materfamilias. By A. Cambridge. 

243. John of Strathbourne. By R. D. 

Chetwodb. 

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245. The Looms of Time. By Mrs. H. 

Fraser. 

246. The Queen's Cup. By G. A. Hbnty. 

247. Dicky Monteith. By T. Gallon. 

248. The Lust of Hate. By G. Boothby. 

249. The Gospel Writ in Steel. By Ar- 

thur Paterson. 

250. The Widower. By W. E. Norris. 

251. The Scourge of God. By J. 

Bloundellb-Burton. 

252. Concerning Isabel Carnaby. By 

Ellen Thorneycropt Fowler. 

253. The Impediment. By D. Gerard, 

254. Belinda— and Some Others. By 

Ethel Maude. 

255. The Key of the Holy House. By 
Albert Lee. 

256. A Writer of Books. ByG.PASTON. 

257. The Knight of the Golden Chain. 

By R, D. Chetwode. 

258. Ricrqft of Withens. By Halli- 

WELL Sutcliffe. 

259. The Procession of Life. By Hor- 

ace A. Vachell. 

260. By Berwen Banks. By A. Raine. 

261. Pharos y the Egyptian. By Guy 

Boothby. 

262. Paul Carah. Comishman. By 

Charles Lee. 


263. Pursued by the Law. By J. ^Iac- 

Laren Cobban. 

264. Madame Izdn. By Mrs. Camp- 

bell- Praed. 

265. Fortune's my Foe. By J. Bloun- 

delle-Burton. 

266. A Cosmopolitan Comedy. By 

Anna Robeson Brown. 

267. The Kingdom of Hate. By T. 

Gallon. 

268. Ihe Game and the Candle. By 

Rhoda Broughton. 

269. Dr. Nikola's Experiment. By 

Guy Boothby, 

270. The Strange Story of Hester 

Wynne. By G, Colmore. 

271. Lady Barbarity. By J. C. Snaith. 

272. A Bitter Heritage. By John 

Bloundelle-Burton. 

273. 'The Heiress of the Season. By Sir 

William Magnay, Bart. 

274. A Voyage at Anchor. By W. 

Clark Russell. 

275. The Idol of the Blind. By T, 

Gallon. 

276. A Comer of the West. By Edith 

Henrietta Fowler. 

277. The Story of Ronald Kestrel. By 
A. J. Dawson. 

278. The World's Mercy. By M. Gray. 

279. The Gentleman Pensioner. By 

AT'DTT'Un' T.TPTP 

280. A Maker of Nations. By Guy 

Boothby. 

281. Mirry-Ann. By Norma Lorimer. 

282. The Immortal Garland. By Anna 

Robeson Brown. 

283. Garthowen. By Allen Raine. 

284. The Lunatic at Large. i By J. 

Storer Clouston. 

285. 'The Seafarers. By John Bloun- 

delle-Burton. 

286. The Minister's Guest. By Isabel 

Smith, 

287. The Last Sentence. By M. Gray. 
2^. Brown of Lost River. By Mary 

E. Stickney. 

289. The Jay-Hawkers. By Adel a E. 

Orpen. 

290. The Flower of the Flock. By W. 

E. Norris. 

291. A Private Chivalry. By Francis 

Lynde. 

292. King Stork of the Netherlands. 

By Albert Lee. 

293. Path and Goal. By Ada Caji- 

BRIDGE. 

294. My Indian Queen. By Guy 

Boothby. 

295. A Hero in Homespun. ByWM. E. 

Barton. 

296. A Royal Exchange. By J. Mac- 

Laren Cobban. 




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The Wilderness Road* 

^ Romance of St. Claires Defeat and Wayne^s Victory. By J. 
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takes in the characters.” — Ncuo York Journal. 

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more apparent as, in their turnings and twistings, they constantly flash upon the 
fascinated reader some n6w phase, yet ever leave him in the dark as to the 
next move or the final outcome. — Chicago Tribune. 

The CttMOtts Cowftship of Kate Poms* 

By Louis Evan Shipman. Illustrated. 

One of the best written novels of the year. It will be widely read and 
generally admired. The romance has vigor, tone, and cumulative interest that 
increases as the story ascends to its climax.” — Philadelphia Item. 

*‘The rakish days of Beau Brummell afforded delightful material for a bril- 
liant and diverting romance, and the author of D’Arcy of the Guards ” has 
made fullest use of it. The story lacks little in either boldness or brilliancy.” 
— Cleveland fVorld. 

The Luck of the Vails* 

A Romance. By E. F. Benson, author of ‘‘Dodo," “The 
Rubicon," “ Mammon & Co." 

“ Attention is held firmly from the first spell of interest to the final cli- 
max.” — Newark Advertiser. 

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By Hall Caine, author of “The Christian,” “The 
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etc. i2mo. Cloth, $1.50. 

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“ The praise of the great men of letters — Ruskin, Collins, 
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* The Deemster ^ and * The Bondman,* should now be readjusted 
to meet present exigencies, for Mr. Hall Caine has done for the 
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not less discriminating public. . . . The true Italian spirit of 
Onuphrio Muralto we find revived after many years in ‘ The 
Eternal City.* ** — New York Times Saturday Review. 


D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



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